


Just Acting

by tlea



Category: Descendants (2015), The Isle of the Lost - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Angst, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Jealousy, M/M, Morning Cuddles, Stealing, maybe smut later havent decided
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-14 00:03:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 52,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4542591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tlea/pseuds/tlea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a moment of confusion and panic to avoid going out with Jane, Carlos tells her that him and Jay are dating. So him and Jay come to an agreement. They weren’t dating, or fake dating. They don't do dating. They do arrangements. This was their fake arrangement. No feelings. Acting. Totally just acting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Everything Is Blue

**Author's Note:**

> So I decided that I would jump aboard the Jaylos fanfiction train and I came up with this. Its the first chapter in a fake dating au. I dont know if I will continue, or when I will update. But I would love messages/reviews on ideas for future chapters! Also, I changed Carlos' age to 15 instead of 14, and Jay is still 16.

      Jay had just thrown on his Tourney uniform when Carlos came barging into their room, Dude in hand, and slammed the door. Jay gave him a look of confusion and Carlos was quick to speak after setting Dude down. “ We have a problem,” He stated, exasperated. 

     Jay quirked his eyebrow at Carlos’ disheveled state and chuckled lightly. “ We? And what is our problem exactly?”   
      

     Carlos ran his hand through his hair and laughed nervously. “ Well..I was taking Dude for a walk and Jane approached me. Which was weird, but y'know I thought maybe she needed homework help or something. So after making short conversation, she sorta just came out and told me she liked me.” Carlos looked up at him with a panicked expression and Jay stared back.       

    “ And how is that a problem?” Jay questioned, confused, albeit amused. Only Carlos would panic over the fact that a girl liked him.      

   " Well I don’t like her back!“ Carlos shouted, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. ” And you should’ve seen her face, Jay. I couldn’t just tell her I didn’t like her.“ 

  ” Sure you can. I do it all the time,“ Jay smirked as he sat down on his bed, enjoying watching Carlos pace around the room frantically.   
   

    Carlos glared at Jay and huffed loudly. ” Yeah okay, well I can’t. And I screwed up. And you’re probably going to kill me,“ Carlos voice dropped down to a whisper, causing Jay to get extremely paranoid.  
  

   ” What’d you do?“ Jay asked slowly, wondering if he wanted to know the answer.  
  

   Carlos laughed nervously again and avoided eye contact with Jay. ” Well..you see, I may have, uh, told her that …“ He stopped before rambling out quickly, ” you and I are a thing.“   
 

    Jay scrambled up from his bed and came close to lunging at Carlos while shouting, ” What!“ _A thing? What the hell did that mean!_       

   Carlos backed away quickly from Jay and ran to the other side of the room, hoping to avoid getting pummeled to death. ” I know! I’m sorry, I ju-“   
 

   ” Stop talking.“ Jay cut Carlos off quickly, needing to voice his confusion. ” So Jane now thinks that you and I…“ He pointed between them two while speaking, ” are what, hooking up?“     

   Carlos gulped before mumbling, ” Uh..no. Dating.“   
  


    Jays stomach dropped and he immediately yelled. ” Holy shit, Carlos! Why did you have to choose me? You could’ve picked Evie! Why couldnt you just tell Jane you didn’t like her!“ Jay tried his best to stay calm and not attack Carlos. He probably feels like enough shit already without him ranting at him. Jay wasn’t even really mad that he lied to Jane about a fake relationship. He was just nervous, and confused. He had been questioning his feelings for Carlos for a while but he had been trying his best to not act on them. Now what was he supposed to do? 

   ” I know, I panicked! Alright? It was stupid, and it was the first thing that came to my head, but you should’ve seen her face, holy shit, she scrambled away from me so quickly,“ Carlos rambled out of nervousness, hoping Jay wasn’t going to kill him.   
  

   But he knew he was so dead. Jay was going to kill him. Then bring him back to life and kill him again. And then most likely repeat it once he heard Carlos’ request.   
  


   ” Okay so, what? We pretend to date for a week?“ Jay was panicking. He wanted to date Carlos, at least some part of him wanted to. But he couldn’t. He didn’t want to, if it was fake, anyways. And besides, how was he supposed to flirt with girls and steal their things if he was ‘dating’ Carlos? That would just give him a worse reputation (Not that he cared, or anything).   
  

   ” Hah, uh, actually I was thinking more like a month..“  Carlos responded quickly, not liking the way Jay had began to pace and mess with his hair. Now they were both panicking the hell out.   
 

   Jay looked wide-eyed at Carlos and threw his hands up in the air. ” Shit! Okay, but what happens after we 'break up’? Won’t Jane just come crawling back to you?“   
 

   Carlos shrugged his shoulders, ” I don’t know. But we have to go through with it! If we don’t I’ll look really stupid..and we just have too okay? I’m sorry I said your name. I’m sorry I dragged you into this, but please, just fake it, for a month?“   
 

   Jay sighed, not able to resist Carlos’ current puppy dog face, ” Alright. Fine. But I’m the one who breaks up with you. I gotta maintain my status,“ Jay smirked and Carlos rolled his eyes.  
  


   ” What status?“ He snorted,” We’re the kids of the worst villains, remember? They don’t like us. We have no cool status.“  
 

   ” You know what I mean,“ Jay mumbled and Carlos just snorted again. Jay left shortly after that, wanting to clear his head. Plus, he had tourney practice.   
  


    The rest of the day was weird. Jay felt like everyone was staring at him and he did his best to avoid Carlos. They hadn’t discussed how they would act in public, and he wasn’t really ready to act in public with him, anyways. He distracted himself by flirting with a couple of girls and snatching himself some necklaces and a watch or two.   
 

    He was heading back to their room when his name was shouted angrily down the hallway. Jay froze and turned around to see Mal and Evie stomping quickly down the hallway towards him. He contemplated on bolting into his room and locking the door, but he decided to face whatever Mal and Evie were on about.   
  

  ” Why didn’t you tell us!“ They had finally reached him and Mal punched him hard on the shoulder. Before he could respond Evie spoke.  
  

   ” Jay, you could’ve told us you and Carlos were dating.“ Jay looked around the hallway and sighed loudly while pulling them into Carlos and his room.   
  

  ” You know?“ He asked dumbfounded, and was responded with hard glares.  
  

   ” The whole damn school knows!“ Mal shouted and Jay tried not to gawk. ” We had to find out through Doug. How the hell does Doug know you and Carlos are dating before we do?“ Seriously, how  _did_  Doug know?  
  

   ” Yeah, seriously Jay-“  
   

   ” Oh my god, shut up, will you?“ Jay held out his hand in frustration, ”  Carlos screwed up. Jane told him she liked him and he didn’t have the heart to tell her he didn’t like her back so he lied and said we are dating. We’re not dating, alright? We are fake dating. There’s a difference.“ The two girls look at each other while trying to hold in their giddy smiles.   
 

    ” What?“ Jay lowered his eyes at the two girls and Evie let out a laugh.  
 

   ” This is gonna end really good or really bad,“ Evie looked at Mal and they both laughed again.  
 

  ” Yeah, no shit.“ Jay was annoyed by their constant laughing and felt out of the loop completely,” This isn’t funny.“  
 

   ” You don’t see it.“ Evie laughed again and looked at Mal, ” He doesn’t see it.“ Jay continued to stare at them with confusion written on his face. He had no idea what they were on about.   
  

    ” You’re gonna fall for him,“ Mal smirked as she crossed her arms over her chest.   
   

      Jays heart sped up, because yeah no shit Mal, he was already in the process of falling ( into deep deep shit). ” Whatever, out. And don’t tell anybody, or I will kill you.“ He pointed to the door and they both rolled their eyes, but walked out the door anyways.  
  

    ” Yeah sure, see you at dinner.“ They laughed once more and Jay slammed the door.   
   

     Carlos wasn’t fairing much better. Why did he say Jays name? Why couldn’t he have just said Evie or just straight out told Jane he was gay? No, he had to go and say him and Jay were dating. Real smooth.   
 

     Him and Jay were friends. They were close friends, and yeah he might like it when Jay ruffles his hair or when he puts his arm around his shoulder for a second too long, but that doesn’t mean they should date. Villains don’t do dating. They don’t even really do feelings. But since the coronation they were no longer villains since they 'chose’ good. But after 15 years of "you’re a villain, you can’t have feelings for anyone,and you especially can’t date” being drilled into your head, it’s hard to stop thinking that way.  
  


    So they weren’t dating or fake dating. They don’t do dating. They do arrangements. This was their fake arrangement. No feelings. Acting, totally just acting.   
  


*******

  “This is just an arrangement. Our fake arrangement,“ He told Jay as they walked down the empty hallway, on their way to dinner.   
 

 ” Right. No feelings, just acting.“ Jay agreed, though his voice wavered.  _No feelings, just acting_. He replayed it again and again in his head, trying hard to convince himself that this was just a fake arrangement. Absolutely no feelings. None at all.   
 

   They walked awkwardly next to each, occasionally brushing shoulders. When they got near the cafeteria they fumbled for each other’s hands and tried to not look awkward as they laced their fingers together.   
 

   ” Here we go,“ Carlos mumbled nervously. He was expecting everyone to look up at them and go silent, but he knew that was just an over-dramatic scene played out in his head, but he was still nervous.   
  

   ” Shut up,“ Jay spat back, nervous as well. They walked into the cafeteria hand in hand. A few turned to look at them, but they immediately went back to eating.   
  

   Jay let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and looked over at Carlos and smiled, ” Huh. Not so bad.“  
 

    Carlos ignored his comment and instead muttered, ” Jay, your hand is really freaking sweaty,“ Carlos tried to speak softly as they walked over to the food line.  
  

   ” Oh, I’m sorry that my hand is overly sweaty due to the fact that I’m just causally freaking out. I’m so sorry that bothers you in some way,“ Jay replied back sarcastically, taking quick glances at Carlos.   
  

   ” Uh, Jay. We’ve held hands before. This isn’t a big deal? Why are you making it a big deal? Let’s just get food. I really want some food.“ Carlos turned his attention away from Jay to the glorious amounts of food in front of him.  
  

   ” The last time we held hands was when we were about to go tumbling off the side of a mountain, so I don’t think that really counts.“ Jay pauses as he undoes his hand from Carlos’ to get a plate, ” And I’m not freaking out over holding your hand. I’m freaking out because I have a reputation to maintain and how am I supposed to flirt with girls while I’m dating you?“ _Nice lie, Jay._  
  

   Carlos sighed as he filled his plate. ” Flirt with boys. Look, I don’t care. Just don’t go around kissing people to steal, and your reputation will be just fine. People already think you’re a douche anyways, so I mean, you can’t really make that worse.“   
  

   Jay gawked at Carlos as he walked away to the table that Mal and Evie were sat at. Before Jay was able to move out of the line Carlos turned around and spoke very loudly, ” Babe, come on!“ Jay quickly grabbed his plate and hustled over to their table, nearly tripping on the way there.  
 

   ” Shut up, will you?“ Jay mumbled as he dropped his plate on the table.Carlos smirked and kissed Jay’s cheek, then taking the opportunity to steal a chocolate covered strawberry off Jays plate.  
  

   Jay tried to keep his face from turning red as he stuffed his face with food, hoping he wouldn’t have to speak as long as he was eating.   
  

   ” Aww, look at you two,“ Evie cooed, ” It’s only day one and Carlos is already making his moves.“   
  

   ” Well we have to be convincing,“ Jay forced out a smile as Carlos stole another strawberry from his plate.  
 

   ” Well, I’m just sooo happy you two are dating!“ Mal mocked as she propped her head up on her hand, looking between the two boys who were seated very close together.  
  

    Carlos looked at Mal and noticed the scowl on Jays face. He lowered his head down and whispered in Jays ear, causing him to shiver. ” Remember, this is just acting. A fake arrangement. Don’t let Mal bother you.“ Carlos looked up at Jay, locking eyes, and Carlos nodded to reassure him.  
  


   ” Right,“ Jay responded shakily,” Just acting.“ 


	2. Let's Play Pretend

It had been five days since Carlos and Jay had started fake dating. Carlos himself thought it was going rather well. There was lots of hand holding, cheek kisses, and several hugs a day. He thought they were completely convincing. Sure there had been one or two awkward instances, but wasn’t there always awkward situations in the beginning of a real relationship?

It was now Saturday morning, meaning that Carlos and Jay would have to attend any events going on, with each other. Carlos slowly sat up in his bed and muttered out, “ Jay, you awake?” They were going to need to discuss how to handle the day, and Carlos wanted to go ahead and get it over with. When there was no response from Jay after a few seconds, Carlos blinked his eyes several times and turned to look at Jay’s bed. Jay’s bed was a mess, with his pillow lying lopsided and his blankets half-on, half-off the bed, and Jay was nowhere in it. At that realization, Carlos groaned and flopped back down onto his bed. He had really wanted to discuss things with Jay, and now he was going to have to spend half of his day looking for him. And he really didn’t want to think about the fact that Jay had most likely left early on purpose, wanting to avoid the whole stupid situation entirely. 

While Carlos was contemplating on going back to sleep, ( because he’d rather waste his day by sleeping than looking for Jay), there was a soft knock on the door. He slowly propped himself up on his arm, wondering if he had been imagining the noise. He was about to lay back down when there was another knock, that time much louder. He immediately got out of bed and yelled, “ I’m not in the mood, Mal!” Not like that would stop her, though.

There was a pause and then someone’s voice, who was not Mal. “ Uh, it’s Jane.” He halted in the middle of the room, wondering if he should open the door or not. He slowly walked towards the door and hesitantly opened it. Jane was fully dressed in a blue dress and black sandals, and Carlos was still in his pajamas. Jane smiled at him and Carlos really wanted to shut the door in her face.

“ Um..” He asked slowly, trying his best not to sound rude, “ Whatcha need?”

“ Yeah, sorry to bother you on a Saturday morning and everything, but I was wondering if I could borrow Dude?” Her smile didn’t falter as she stepped closer into the door frame, prompting Carlos to take a step back.

“Borrow…Dude?” Carlos questioned confused, as he scrunched up his face, “ What for?” Carlos accidentally stepped too far over in the door frame, leaving a spot wide open, causing Jane to take it as an invitation to walk into their room.

“ Uh, okay,” He shook his head as he closed the door, “ Sure, just come right on into my room.”

Jane looked around their room for a moment before looking back at Carlos and smiling, “ I need him for a project.”

“ A project?” Carlos asked, highly skeptical.

“ Yeah, a dog project.” The smile from Jane’s face had yet to fade, and it was starting to creep Carlos out.

“What’s the project about?”

“Dogs,” Jane spoke nervously, suddenly not looking at Carlos.

Carlos shook his head slowly, “ Right.. I guess, yeah. Just let me get some stuff for him,” Carlos turned around and smiled at Dude and went over to grab a few of his things. As he was rummaging through his toys and food, Jane spoke suddenly.

“ Are you sure you and Jay are dating?”

He stopped what he was doing and turned around to stare at Jane. “ What?” It wasn’t a nervous question, or really a question at all. It was more of a snappy statement, because Jane was crazy.

“ I mean, I know you told me you were, but you don’t seem like it to me,” Her smile was creepier than before and she was slowly moving closer to Carlos and he had a sudden realization that she hadn’t really wanted to borrow Dude.

Carlos took a step back, and tried to keep his voice steady. “ Well we are.” Jane shook her head at his statement as she got closer.

“ I don’t think so,” She wasn’t really smiling anymore, but she was advancing him quickly and he began to panic at the fact that he didn’t really have an escape route, “ Just seem like close friends to me. I mean, hand holding isn’t really a sign of a relationship, is it? I mean you’re dating Jay.”

“Okay, Jane,” Carlos stuttered,” We are dating. Sorry you don’t think so, but we are,” She lowered her eyes at him, and now they were both inches away from each other, “ So lay off.”

She laughed softly and in an almost whisper said, “ I don’t believe you,” She hadn’t moved any closer to him, so he thought that was a good sign.

Carlos cocked his head to the side, “ I think you do believe it, but you don’t want to.” Yeah, okay that wasn’t the best thing to say, but he always had a problem of egging people on in an argument.

Jane smiled softly and shook her head again, “ No. I really think you’re lying. I’m not the only one who thinks that, either. So,” She spoke in a whisper. She leaned in closer to Carlos, and he suddenly realized if she moved any closer he would be smooshed up against the wall and her face would be on his, so he quickly noped on out of there.

Before Jane even had a chance to kiss him, Carlos quickly shoved her away and scrambled to the door, “ Okay. Good talk, gotta go find my boyfriend,” He chuckled nervously as he threw the door open and all but ran down the hallway.

Carlos’ mind was an utter mess. They had spent the past five days pretending to be dating, and people, Jane, didn’t believe they were? Had the last five days all been a waste? Were they really that bad? They had started the whole thing so Jane would stay far away from him, not so she would come and try to forcefully kiss him.

While Carlos was walking frantically to find Jay, he bumped into Doug. “ Hey? Have you seen Jay?”

Doug eyed Carlos quickly before responding, and Carlos suddenly remembered he was still in his pajamas. “ Uh..about ten minutes ago I saw him by the bleachers with a couple of girls,” Doug was going to ask if Carlos was okay, but didn’t get the chance to as Carlos ran off, barely muttering a thank you.

Of course Jay was with some girls. He should’ve known. I mean you’re dating Jay rang through his head again, and he immediately realized what Jane had meant. He was ‘dating’ Jay. The Jay who was known to be a massive flirt, and kiss any girl in a one mile radius. So, if he was dating Jay, everyone expected Jay to act towards Carlos like he did with girls. Which meant doing a lot of things they had not done yet, one being kissing.

Once he reached the field, he screamed, “ Jay!” He was panicking, again. This time Jane didn’t just say she liked him, she tried to kiss him. And maybe, if Jay hadn’t left the room early, that wouldn’t have happened. He spotted a few figures by the bleachers and as he got closer he noticed it was Jay with two girls he didn’t know the names of. He stomped angrily through the grass and yelled Jay’s name again.

One of the girls looked at Carlos confused, but Jay and the other girl didn’t look at Carlos, because the girl was too enwrapped in the meaningless things Jay was telling her, and Jay was too busy unclasping the watch from her wrist.

“Uh..” The un pre-occupied girl said as Carlos stomped behind Jay. Carlos gave her a glare as he clasped his hand onto Jay’s wrist, pulling him away forcefully.

“ Babe!” He yelled as he tugged Jay away from the two girls, “ I need to talk to you, now!” Carlos dragged Jay far enough away from the bleachers so they could talk freely. He quickly let go of Jay’s wrist and Jay wasted no time in asking questions.

“ What’s wrong? I almost had that watch, Carlos!” Jay huffed annoyed as he stood in front of a very angry and panicked looking Carlos.

“You can get another one later!” Carlos tried hard not to roll his eyes at Jay’s priorities. “ We have bigger problems!”

Jay scanned Carlos’ face and sighed before asking carefully, “ Okay. What happened? What’s wrong?”

Carlos eyes went wide as he yelled dramatically, “ What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Jane tried to fucking kiss me, that’s what’s wrong!”

Jay’s breath hitched, and he snapped, “ What!” He almost wanted to laugh at the thought of a panicked Carlos running away from a girl trying to kiss him, but in some part of him, it infuriated him so much that he couldn’t laugh.

“ Yeah! She cornered me in our room and then questioned our relationship! She doesn’t believe we’re dating, and neither do some other people, apparently,” Carlos sighed again, and Jay watched as he ran his hand through his white hair.

And okay, he was going to kill her, Jay decided. He wanted to kill her. “ Doesn’t believe us? So she thinks she can just go up and kiss you because she doesn’t believe we’re dating even though you told her that we are? She’s fucking crazy!” Jay gritted out, highly annoyed. They had made this agreement to keep Carlos Jane free and happy, not panicky and angry like he is now.

“ Well, holding hands and cheek kisses isn’t enough apparently”

“ It’s only been five days! What do they expect?” Jay was confused. What did it matter to others how they chose to go about acting in a relationship?

“ You’re Jay, though!” Carlos suddenly shouted, causing Jay to flinch. “ You flirt with anything that moves, you’ve made out with people you didn’t even know! So why would you be any different with me? That’s what they expect you to do!”

Jay wasn’t sure if he should be proud or highly offended at his apparent reputation. Right now, it frustrated him. It’s because of his stupid player personality that half of the school doesn’t believe him and Carlos are dating simply because they don’t see them making out in public. And that was seriously why Jane thought it was okay to go and try to kiss Carlos?

“ So it’s my fault,” Jay muttered and Carlos quickly shook his head.

“ No, it’s not our fault that Jane is fucking crazy. It’s just, we have to step it up sooner than we thought we were gonna have to. We are going to have to convince Jane, otherwise I feel like she’s probably going to try something on me again,” Carlos shuddered at the thought and Jay gritted his teeth together. Like hell she was.

Jay huffed loudly and was about to grab Carlos’ hand when he realized what Carlos was wearing. He was still in his black and white shorts and engulfed with his red pajama shirt, and Jay smirked down at him.

“ Are those your pajamas?” Jay laughed and Carlos glared playfully at him.

“ Shut up,” And then Carlos grabbed Jay’s hand.

“ Alright, come on,” Jay laughed lightly as him and Carlos walked hand in hand towards the dorm. Carlos squeezed Jay’s hand, and Jay squeezed back and smiled. There was one thing Jay had found out in the past five days. He really liked holding Carlos’ hand. His hand was enormous compared to Carlos’ and it just made Carlos that much more adorable.

When they got back to their room, Carlos was happy to see that Jane was gone and Dude was still on his bed. “ I’m gonna change, I probably shouldn’t wear these all day,” Carlos smiled sheepishly as he tugged at his shirt.

“ Alright,” Jay responded, flicking his eyes away from Carlos and towards the door, “ I’ll be right back. I gotta do something. Don’t go anywhere,” Jay was out the door once Carlos nodded at him and Carlos tried not to think what he had to go do.

Jay would say he was furious, but that would be an understatement. What the hell did Jane think she was doing? It was not okay for her to go and try to kiss Carlos, regardless if him and Carlos were dating or not. Carlos had obviously not wanted to kiss her but she advanced on him anyways, and now he was a panicked mess. She was a complete lunatic and he was going to make sure she knew never to try to do that again.

Jay’s feet pounded angrily through the wooden floors and he pushed past people, ignoring their annoyed shouts. He brushed off the girls who tried to talk to him and headed to the only place he knew to look for Jane. He was almost positive that her room was the one on the left of Mal and Evie’s. He hurried up to the door and pounded on it, causing it to shake.

“Jane!” He yelled as he continued to pound on the door. The door quickly swung open and Jane was staring at him confused.

“Uh, hi..” She said nervously as she stared at a very pissed off Jay.

“ Yeah, hi,” He ground out, fists at his sides,” I just wanted to tell you that if you ever try to kiss my boyfriend again, I will fucking end you.” Jane eyed his fists and looked up at his face.

“ Boyfriend?” She asked slowly, still doubtful. She was trying to remain calm, because she was totally not scared of Jay. Not at all.

“ Yeah, boyfriend.” He emphasized loudly and wanted to scream when Jane rolled her eyes.

“Okay,” She answered sarcastically causing Jay to step closer to her.

“ Just stay out of our business, alright? Mal may have chosen good, but I’m not afraid to step off that pedestal and do whatever the hell I need to make sure you get the message, even if I get banned back to the island. So,” Jay smiled at a slightly pale Jane and lowered his voice, “Back. The. Hell. Off.” He didn’t wait for a response as he turned around and walked back down the hallway. 

He heard the door slam shut and another one open. “ Jay!”

He turned around, still angry. “ What!” Of course, it was Mal and Evie.

"What was that all about?” Evie asked as she nodded her heard towards Jane room. Jay groaned as he rubbed his hand on his forehead.

“ Jane tried to kiss Carlos.” Evie’s eyes went wide and Mal’s mouth turned up into a grin.

“ Holy shit! No kidding!” Mal laughed as Jay shot her a glare, “ So, what? You had to go tell her off?”

Jay crossed his arms and muttered, “ Yeah, something like that.” The two girls gave each other glances and Jay huffed.

“ Look, I gotta go, so…nice talk,” He turned around and hurried back down the hallway.

When he got back to the room, Carlos was sitting on his bed petting Dude.

“ Hey,” Carlos smiled up at Jay. “ Where’d you go?” He wanted to lie to him, but he couldn’t. Not with that adorable smile and his hair in a mess, it was just a little too hard.

“ I went to talk to Jane,” Jay smiled sheepishly as he walked over to sit on his own bed. Carlos stopped petting Dude and looked up at Jay, frightened.

“ What! Oh my god, what’d you do?” Jay wouldn’t punch her or anything, right? He knew Jay was prone to violence, but surely he wasn’t that low, to punch a girl. At least not over something entirely so stupid.

“ Nothing! I just told her to back off.” Jay put his hands up in defense and Carlos cocked his head as if he didn’t believe him. “ I swear! I just told her to stay out of our business.” Carlos licked his lips and looked back down at Dude before Jay spoke, “ But I think she still doesn’t believe us.”

Carlos groaned loudly at hearing that. What were they going to do? Why’d Jane have to make the whole thing so difficult. “ So what are we gonna do, then?” He questioned Jay, as if he would have an answer. He was probably just as clueless as he was.

“ I don’t know,” Jay sighed as he picked at the covers on his bed, “ But I don’t want to worry about it right now. Let’s just play some video games or something and we’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

Carlos smiled at the suggestion and quickly hopped off his bed. “ Okay. Some video games would probably help me get this off my mind, anyways.” Jay smiled back as he also got off his bed and they both went to their tv and sets of games.

“ I bet I can beat you today,” Carlos laughed as he put the game in.

“ Oh really? Really?” Jay laughed back as he ruffled Carlos’ hair, “ I doubt that.” They both laughed again, Jane forgotten completely at the moment.

*******

“ Why did we have to go to dinner?” Carlos groaned as he let go of Jay’s hand to pick up a chocolate cupcake from the food line. Carlos had been hoping he could avoid people for the whole day, but he had no such luck when Jay had to literally pull him out of their room and then push him towards the cafeteria.

“ Because we skipped lunch,” Jay answered as he waited for Carlos to grab whatever else he needed before walking over to their table. Carlos sat down, in front of Evie, and Jay pushed his chair closer to Carlos’ before sitting down and placing his plate on the table.

“ Are you allowed to have three cupcakes?” Evie asked as she looked at the heap of junk food on Carlos’ plate. Carlos shrugged as he picked one up.

“ I dunno.” Evie shook her head and went to eating. Jay couldn’t help but watch Carlos as he happily devoured the chocolate cupcake in his hand. Jay had still been staring at Carlos when Mal cleared her throat, causing him to look up. She looked at Jay and moved her eyes over and motioned her head sideways. Jay looked over to where she mentioned and noticed Jane along with Audrey and Lonnie taking several glances ( Jane was staring ), at him and Carlos. He glanced over at Carlos quickly and noticed that he had stopped eating to talk to Evie.

Jay took this as an opportunity to scoot closer to Carlos and move his face towards his. Carlos stopped talking and looked up at Jay, confused. “ What are you doing?” He whispered, confused as to why Jay was so close to him.

“ Jane’s watching.” He stated and motioned his head towards her, and Carlos flicked his eyes over and back. “ Gotta convince.” Jay licked his lips and Carlos slowly nodded his head. He knew Jay was going to kiss him, but he wasn’t all that prepared and he was definitely nervous as hell. His heart had managed to speed up to the point where he thought it might actually explode out of his chest and he almost forgot that, oh yeah, you close your eyes when you kiss. Close your eyes, Carlos.

Jay tilted his head and moved down towards him and when he thought that their lips were going to actually meet, their foreheads collided and Carlos yelped softly in pain. “ Sorry. Sorry,” Jay muttered as his eyes flew open, “ Nervous.” And why the hell was he nervous? He had kissed plenty of girls before, and he had definitely never screwed up like that before. Carlos shook his head and Jay leaned in again.

This time their foreheads didn’t collide and instead their noses brushed up against each other as Jay laid his lips on Carlos. It didn’t last long enough for either one of them to process anything, except for the fact that they had kissed. They pulled apart at a maximum of five seconds later and Mal loved the fact that they were both blushing like crazy.

“ That was awkward,” Mal chuckled as she looked between the two flustered boys. Jay ignored her comment as he looked back up at Jane and noticed all three of them quickly divert their eyes away.

Jay smiled happily and leaned down to whisper in Carlos’ ear. “ I think it worked!” Carlos turned his head to smile at him and looked back over at Jane. Nodding happily that they were no longer watching, he went back to eating his cupcakes.

Dinner was nearly over when Carlos had cleared his plate and exclaimed that he needed to go get another cupcake.

“ You’re crazy,” Jay chuckled as Carlos hopped up from his seat.

“ I know!” Carlos shouted as he walked away from the table, “ Want anything?” He turned back quickly. Jay nodded his head no and Carlos turned back around and scrambled to the dessert table. He was so excited about getting another cupcake he didn’t notice Jane behind him.

“ That was something,” Was spoken into his ear, almost a whisper, and he had nearly jumped ten feet high in shock. He turned his body around to see Jane smirking lightly and Carlos almost ran away, actually he had tried too, but it seemed that his feet were glued to the floor. She stepped close to him, but he didn’t move, knowing every time he moved back she would just move closer. Her face was inches from his and he could smell that she had just eaten peanut butter. “ But it wasn’t convincing enough.” She said softly and Carlos just nodded.

She was about to walk off when she stopped at his side, her arm touching his, and she dipped her head down and whispered in his ear, “ I don’t believe you.” And then she sauntered away and Carlos nearly tripped on his dash back to the table.

Jay had thought maybe that kiss ( even if it was awkward) would actually convince Jane, and maybe his threat would make her stay the hell away, but he was having no such luck. He froze in his place as he watched Jane lean in too close to Carlos. They seemed to be there forever, and Carlos wasn’t moving away. Why wasn’t he moving away? He clenched his jaw as he watched her lean in and whisper to him and he was about to get up and do something when Carlos came tumbling back over to the table.

“ What was that all about?” Jay ground out as Evie and Mal gazed suspiciously at his attitude.

“ It didn’t work,” Carlos stuttered out, still shocked from what happened.

Obviously. Jay wanted to say, but figured that wasn’t the best thing to do. “ What’d she say?” He had to tell himself to keep his voice steady and calm, and he unclenched his fist when he noticed Evie looking at it curiously.

“ Wasn’t convincing enough,” Carlos sighed. “ We’re gonna have to do better.”

“ Better?” Jay asked as he gazed over at Jane’s table. He dropped his hand below the table and grabbed Carlos’. “ Oh, I can do better.” He smirked over at Carlos and Mal lifted her eyebrow up in amusement.

Jay squeezed Carlos’ hand and snapped his head back towards Jane’s table.“ We’re gonna make this the best damn show they’ve ever seen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being a lot longer than I had planned on, so I had to cut it short and push things over into the next chapter. Hope you liked it.


	3. Reach Out and Touch

    “Absolutely not!” Jay yelled at Carlos’ insane proposal. They had been arguing about it for the past ten minutes and Carlos had yet to drop it.

   “Why not!” Carlos’ voice was laced with anger and frustration as he threw his hands up into the air. Jay groaned as he grasped his forehead and willed himself not to scream at Carlos.

   “ Because, I don’t-“ He paused as he gestured between the two of them, “ _We_ don’t, need to practice kissing! I know how to kiss perfectly well, and who the hell practices anyways?” While yes, Jay had possibly thought about kissing Carlos once or twice, he didn’t actually want to do it. He didn’t want to screw things up any more than they were and he was a bit appalled at the fact that Carlos thought they needed to practice.

    Evie sighed dramatically as she piped into the argument. “ Carlos is right. You probably should practice, because that first kiss the other day was beyond awkward.” Jay’s eyes burned holes into Evie’s forehead and she glared back. She hadn’t planned on arguing over the idea of kiss practicing. She had just wanted to give Carlos the new outfit she had made for Dude. But when she walked into their room Jay had been yelling something about practice and Carlos demanded that she stay and ‘pick a side’. She had spun around and tried to leave, but was yanked back, forced to watch them bicker back and forth.

    “See!” Carlos motioned towards Evie and swung back around to smirk at Jay. Jay was tight-lipped as he looked at Carlos with wide eyes. He threw his hands out in frustration and opened his mouth to speak, but immediately closed it as he threw his hands into his knotted hair.

    “ Okay, I get that you’re freaking out a little bit,” Carlos chuckled nervously as he chewed on his bottom lip. Jay and Evie both deadpan, causing Carlos to slowly stop laughing. “ Alright,” He eyed them both as he continued. “ I get that this is uncomfortable, because yeah it’s completely awkward for me, too. But if we practice, just a couple of times, then it will get less awkward and we’ll look super convincing.”

    The room was silent as Jay paced around for what seemed like several minutes before he stopped and  looked at Carlos. “ Alright, fine.” His answer was hesitant and barely spoken, but it still caused Carlos to grin triumphantly. Evie smiled as well, clasping her hands together in excitement.

    “ Sorry for snapping at you,” Jay spoke louder, though he turned his gaze to the floor. “ It’s just a little…weird, I guess.” Carlos shook his head in agreement, even though, for some reason, the statement burned a little.

    “ Yeah..” Carlos agreed reluctantly before quickly stating, “ I just really think it will make it less awkward in the long run.”

    Carlos himself was a bit shocked at the idea he had practically forced onto Jay. After they kissed he had been thinking about it basically all night. It had been awkward, painfully awkward. And he knew Jay didn’t do awkward. And so did other people, and if they had another kiss that awkward again, some people might get suspicious. So, finally, while tossing and turning in his bed, he had the wonderful (terrible) idea of kiss practicing. It sounded a bit crazy, and he almost didn’t even mention it. But he really wanted It to be as normal as possible in public, so it was the only way he could come up with. And part of him had (really) liked kissing Jay, even if they did butt heads at first. But that was totally not the reason why he wanted Jay to kiss him several times behind closed doors. It was most definitely for acting purposes only.

    “ Yeah,” Jay paused, suddenly remembering that they had to attend Tourney practice. “ We can do it later, though. I think coach might be mad if we miss another practice.” He pointed to the door and Carlos quickly scrambled forward, remembering coaches last warning on being late.

   “ Oh, crap! Come on!” Carlos shouted as he tore the door open, banging it on the wall.

    “ Bye, E!” Jay yelled as he instinctively grabbed Carlos’ hand and rushed out the door. Neither one of them had yet to notice that they held hands almost every second they were together out of habit. Except, sometimes Jay would be wandering the hallways and he would quickly look for Carlos, missing the feeling of his hand in his own. ( But Jay ignored that, just like he ignored the rest of his feelings).

  ****

       Carlos hated Tourney with a passion. But he hated band slightly more, and he realized that Jay wanted him there, so he sucked it up and decided that he wouldn’t quit. But on certain days, like today, he really wished he had quit. Someone,  who he was almost certain was Chad, and some other bozo was charging at him, despite the coach yelling several times at them. And generally when this happened, when he was ganged up on, Jay would intervene and ram whoever was chasing Carlos, down to the ground. ( And on rare occasions, kick them ‘til they couldn’t breathe). But today, Jay seemed to be in his own world, and he wasn’t doing his special flips, or defending Carlos. So yeah, right then, Carlos definitely wished he had quit Tourney.

    Jay didn’t really realize he was acting different. In fact, he was confused when the coach had to repeatedly yell at him, which generally did not happen. But he couldn’t help it. His brain had decided that right then, in the midst of practice, it would think frantically about Carlos. He nearly panicked at the thought of kissing Carlos behind closed doors, which made him angry. Because he was _Jay_ , he made every girl weak at their knees and he could kiss them without a second thought. But when it came to stupid, adorable, Carlos, his brain froze and he suddenly felt as if he had never kissed a soul in his life. And Carlos seemed so nonchalant about the whole thing and that just made Jay feel worse. But that’s when he realized something. If he wants to flirt and kiss with Carlos like he does with girls, he cant think of Carlos as Carlos. He has to think of it as another job. That it didn’t matter. It was acting, it was all just acting, and if Carlos was so nonchalant about it, then maybe he should be too. 

     And then he heard Carlos scream and he looked up and saw red as he watched two douchebags chasing after Carlos. He was off immediately and barely thought as he rammed his shoulder into Chad’s, throwing him down to the ground and away from Carlos. " Back off!" He yelled as he got one kick into Chad's side.

    Chad groaned on the ground and Jay ripped off his helmet, snapping his attention to Carlos. “ Are you okay?”

     “ Took you long enough!” Carlos huffed as he threw his helmet to the ground. He looked over at Chad and proudly stated, “ You’re a dick.”

      The coach looked over at Chad and then at Jay and sighed as he pulled at the bridge of his nose. “ Alright, practice is over. See you guys later.” Several of the players cheered happily and ignored Chad's groans as he struggled to get up.

      “ Oh, thank god,” Carlos leaned over, exasperated, trying his best to catch his breath. Jay grinned at Carlos as he quickly made his way over to his hunched over form.

     “ You good?” Jay smiled softly as he placed his hand on Carlos’ back. Carlos slowly stood up and turned to look at Jay, his breathing slowly adjusting.

     “ That was awful,” He complained, too focused on Jay’s hand centered on his back.

      Jay smiled as he wrapped his arm around Carlos’ torso and carefully pulled his body towards his own. “ Well, I thought you looked extremely cute,” Jay spoke loud enough for others to hear, but locked eyes with Carlos. He leaned in quickly and pecked Carlos’ cheek and shifted his arm around Carlos’ torso, to his shoulders. Carlos tried his best to refrain from blushing and hiding his face in Jay’s shoulder.

    “ I would say the same about you, but I couldn’t really pay attention since I was being chased for half of the time,” Carlos joked and unconsciously leaned into the warmth of Jay’s body.

     Jay tightened his hold on Carlos’ shoulder and felt a stab of guilt at the fact he hadn’t noticed soon enough that Carlos was being chased by a stampede. “ Sorry about that,” Jay said softly, as he looked down at Carlos. “ Come on, let’s go.” He was about to let go of Carlos’ shoulder and walk back towards their dorm when Carlos shouted,

   “No!” Jay lifted his eyebrow questionably at Carlos, who was still slightly wheezing.  “ I’m _not_ walking all the way back to our rooms. I’m way too tired.”

   “Okay..” Jay said slowly as he licked his lips, quickly thinking. “ Here, get on my back.” He positioned his back towards Carlos and Carlos tentatively stepped towards it.

   “ Seriously?” His voice was doubtful  and he was a little shocked that Jay had actually offered to basically carry him the whole way to the dorm.

   “ Babe, yeah.” Jay answered loudly. That’s all it took for Carlos to gladly latch onto Jay’s shoulders and hop onto his back. He wrapped his legs around Jay’s torso and secured his arms around Jay’s neck. He shifted around until he was comfortable and carefully placed his chin in the crook of Jay’s neck.

    “ Good?” Jay turned his head slightly, awaiting Carlos confirmation so he could begin their journey.

    “ Yep. Homeward bound, babe,” Carlos sighed happily as Jay’s hands wrapped around his legs and began walking.

   It wasn’t as weird as Carlos had thought it would be.  He figured he’d  be stiff and afraid to move, or Jay would get awkward and ask Carlos to get down. But, it didn’t happen. Carlos was surprisingly content in resting his chin on Jay’s neck, and Jay didn’t mind the calm silence between them both.

   “ I can’t believe you called Chad a dick,” Jay broke the silence suddenly. He sounded proud and Carlos was glad Jay couldn’t see his face as he spoke.

    “ Yeah, well, It’s not like I have anything else to lose by doing it,” Carlos stated, annoyed with himself.

    “ Don’t say that. And don’t go around doing things that could get you in trouble,” Jay warned as they passed the band practicing.

    Carlos coughed out a laugh at Jay’s hypocritical demand. “ Oh, what? Like you don’t do that?” He laughed again and settled his chin back onto Jay’s shoulder. Jay didn’t answer and they fell back into their silence as they continued the walk to the dorm.

    Carlos was about to close his eyes when he noticed a group of girls standing where Jay and him were going to pass. He immediately became aware and scanned the crowd, looking for Jane, or any of her annoying friends. His eyes quickly landed on Jane and a black haired girl chatting happily.

   “ Bingo,” Carlos whispered as he glanced over at them, making sure they could see him. Before Jay could question him, Carlos turned his head and placed a kiss under Jay’s ear. He then did an opened mouth, longer one next to the first. He finished off by quickly kissing Jay’s temple and then laying his head back down and humming softly.

     Jay had frozen, not expecting that at all. He had to bite his lip from making any noises, and he pushed himself to keep moving. He licked his lips nervously and cleared his throat before shakily speaking.

   “ That was…good,” He cleared his throat again. “ I mean, that was convincing. Good acting,” Jay spoke slowly, hoping it would keep his voice from stuttering.

   “ I know!” Carlos replied as he watched Jane stare at them, frozen. The smirk Carlos had learned from Jay appeared on his face as they quickly passed Jane and the rest of the group.

****

      Jay and Carlos had just gotten back into their room from dinner when Carlos’ face suddenly turned into one of worry. His brow was creased and he was biting his lip, which Jay had recently realized he did a lot. Jay frowned and stepped closer to Carlos.

   " What's wrong?" His voice was softer than usual and Carlos whipped his head up, his face morphing into one of surprise because he hadn't known Jay had been paying attention.

     " It's stupid," Carlos muttered as he trudged over to his bed and sat down with a huff. Jay slowly followed and stopped to lean against the bed post.

   " I'm sure it is," Jay joked, laughing lightly, " Tell me anyways."

     Carlos stared at Jay, scanning his face, and when he realized Jay actually cared he spoke. " I just feel really fucking bad. This whole thing is such shit, and I dragged you into it. We already had problems without this stupid immature drama. I shouldn't have said your name to Jane. It was stupid of me and now you're forced to be in this fake thing and it's-" Carlos' eyes looked at everything except for Jay, and he would've kept on rambling if Jay hadn't stopped him.

    "Ba-" Jay immediately stopped himself, " Carlos, stop talking." Carlos looked at Jay, then. Carlos lowered his eyes in confusion as to why Jay wanted him to stop apologizing. " I don't want you beating yourself up over this. Look, you didn't drag me into this, alright? I could've said no. I didn't have to agree to this." Jay moved over and sat down next to Carlos, making sure he had his complete attention. " Sure, it may  be a little silly, but it doesn't bother me. I've gotten used to it.  Please stop hurting yourself over it. You don't need to apologize to me," Jay searched Carlos' eyes, and Carlos responded like he always did when he was nervous, by slowly nodding.

   " You're sure? I mean you don't have to lie-"

   " I'm not lying!" Jay some-what shouted, causing Carlos to sit up straighter. " I promise." Jay kept still, watching as Carlos slumped back down and sighed.

     Carlos bit his lip again and looked at Jay and then quickly diverted his gaze to his bed covers, " Okay. Can we practice kissing, now?"

     Jay's breath hitched and he nearly fell off the bed at the sudden change in topic. Carlos kept his face down and Jay wanted to speak, but he was finding it hard to get any words out.

    " Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess now is a good time." Jay nodded as he turned towards Carlos a little more and Carlos looked up, still biting his lip. He smiled weakly at Jay and Jay smiled back.

    " Just keep it simple?" Carlos asked, scooting closer to Jay so that their knees were almost touching.

       _It's just another job. Be nonchalant. Play the part._  Jay reminded himself as he went to answer Carlos' question. " Yeah, of course. Simple," Jay leaned in closer to Carlos and placed his hand on his shoulder, steadying himself. " Tilt your head a little," He demanded softly and Carlos barely nodded as he obliged.

     _Play the part._

    Jay leaned in, softly grabbing the back of Carlos' neck. Like the first time, they brushed noses and their lips met easier, this time. Carlos let his hand fall to grasp Jay's side as Jay slowly worked his lips against his own. Jay had to prevent himself from working Carlos' mouth open and sliding his tongue in, as it was instinct to do so. Simple, they were doing simple.

    Carlos' stomach was doing flips and he grasped Jay's side harder as he let himself lean closer. Jay's mouth was surprisingly soft, and even though it was a closed-mouth kiss, it was the most amazing kiss Carlos had thought. Jay pulled away slowly and Carlos almost followed him back, but stopped when he remembered it was practice.

    Jay was still holding the back of his neck and Carlos could feel his hot breath on his nose. " Again, still simple, but better this time." Jay found himself gasping out and Carlos quickly nodded as they both leaned back in. Their lips moved faster, this time. While Jay could stop himself from using his tongue, he couldn't stop the instinct to bite down on Carlos' bottom lip. He almost pulled back to apologize but didn't when Carlos made a hum in the back of his throat and pulled Jay closer to his body. Jay couldn't help but smirk into the kiss, and softly bite Carlos' bottom lip again, this time causing Carlos' other hand to fall into the mess of Jay's hair. After a few more seconds of sloppy kissing they both pulled away and scooted away from each other, breathing heavily.

    " I think we got it down," Carlos breathed out, knowing for a fact that his face was blood red. He licked his lips and Jay's eyes flickered down towards them before going back up to Carlos' eyes.

   " Yeah, definitely better than the dinner one," Jay agreed as he ran his hand through his hair, hoping that his heart would slow the hell down. They both gazed at each other for a few more seconds before Jay quickly hopped up and walked away from the bed. " I'm gonna go to the bathroom to get ready for bed," He spoke nervously as he rubbed his hand on his pants and headed towards the door.

   " Alright," Carlos muttered as he leaned back onto his bed. Jay didn't say anything else as he quickly made his way out of the room. Carlos watched as the door slammed shut and then groaned as he threw his head into his hands.

_"Shit."_

 ***

    By the time Jay had calmed himself (and his body) down, and made it back to their room, Carlos was in his pajamas underneath the covers, with Dude sitting right in the middle of Jay's bed. He carefully shut the door, not knowing if Carlos was asleep or not.

   " Dude, you're gonna have to scram off my bed," Jay tried to whisper at the dog who was sprawled out on the brown covers, taking up more than half of the space. He went to push the dog away when a voice behind him caused him to jump slightly.

    "Dont!" Carlos had been awake, and he was now propped up on his arm as he stared at Jay and Dude.  " He'll bother me all night if you move him," Carlos complained and Jay turned around so he could completely see Carlos.

   " Well what am I supposed to do?" Jay huffed as he threw his arms out and Carlos responded by shuffling over in his bed. He patted the spot next to him and Jay's eyebrow went up in confusion.

   " Just lay here 'til he leaves. He'll probably get up in an hour or two. But if you get him up now, I promise you he will keep you awake for the rest of the night," Carlos plopped back down and adjusted the covers around him.

     Jay scratched his cheek and clicked his tongue, " Okay." He quietly made his way over to Carlos' bed and crawled on top of the covers. He laid himself down and put his arm under his head as he sighed loudly. Carlos turned to his side to look at him and smiled as he closed his eyes.

   " Night," He rolled back over and Jay ruffled his hair.

    " Night, C." Jay turned his head to look at Dude and sighed again as he turned his attention towards the ceiling, hoping that Dude would wake up quickly.

****

    The first thing Jay realized was that he was very warm, and his arm was holding something. He slowly opened his eyes and came face to face to a smiling Carlos. It took Jay a few moments to realize that his arm was hugging Carlos' torso and their legs were tangled together.

   " Hi," Carlos chirped nonchalantly and Jay blinked, confused.

    " Hey.." Jay responded back slowly as he let his eyes wander around to see what the situation was exactly.

    " I think you fell asleep here last night," Carlos grinned again, and Jay realized that his arm was still hugging Carlos tightly. Jay undid his arm  and Carlos responded by moving his legs over. Jay propped himself up with one arm and used his other hand to wipe at his eyes.

    " Yeah, I must've," Jay muttered as he looked over at his bed and then back at Carlos. " How long you've been awake?"

    Carlos sat up and Jay's mouth turned upright at the sight of Carlos' massive, but adorable, bed head. " Like twenty minutes. I couldn't really do anything. I woke up and I was just sorta trapped. And I didn't want to wake you up, because I figured you went to sleep way after I did." When Carlos had woken up, he found that he couldn't move at all, and he had almost began to panic until he realized that Jay was the reason he was trapped. He immediately decided he wasn't going to do anything about it because Jay deserved some sleep, and he was _really_ comfortable.

    " So, what? You just stared at me the whole time?" Jay laughed as he sat fully up and threw the covers away from him.

    " Yeah. I mean I couldn't really look at anything else," Carlos followed Jay's motions and hopped out of bed. He checked his alarm clock and yelled at Jay as he went to his closet, " And since I let you sleep an extra twenty minutes, we will be late if we don't get to school in the  next ten minutes."

***

   Jay and Carlos had basically ran to school, and they skidded to a halt in the hallway, three minutes before the bell was going to ring. Surprisingly, the hallway was still filled with several kids, and Carlos was glad that they hadn't been late, because honestly, sometimes he kinda liked school.

    Jay turned and wrapped his arms around Carlos, giving him a quick hug. He pulled back and Carlos leaned in and gave him a quick peck on his lips. They both grinned at each other and Jay let go of Carlos' hand as he moved towards his class, " See you later!"

   " Bye!" Carlos responded quickly and then took no time in tumbling into science class.

     Science class had to be Carlos' favorite, while Intro to Goodness was most definitely his least favorite.  Intro to Goodness was stupid, and the Fairy Godmother treated them like idiots and made them feel like they were nothing, simply because they were raised by villains. The class forced them to act in a way they weren't used to, and it tore down their character. While, yes he understood that they needed to be taught some good ways, he thought that the class could've been constructed better. It didn't  just try to teach them good, it tried to rip them of their whole personality and shove a whole new character up their ass. Some of the things that were trying to be taken away, or twisted into some sickly type of good, were what made them _them_. The class didn't just want to "help" them become a better person. It wanted to invent a completely new character and if they tried to stray or revolt against it, simply because they wanted to hold onto one little thing that was still theirs, they were punished or given a warning with a threat of being sent back to the island.

   But science class was different. He may not have any friends in the class, but he could at least be who he knew he was. It didn't try to rip him of his personality, of the only thing he had left of himself that he didn't hate completely. He got to learn new ways to try inventions and he got to do things he liked. It made him happy.

***

    Jay was walking out of his class when he noticed Carlos rummaging through his locker. He happened to look over to his left and noticed Jane watching Carlos intently, and that just wouldn't do. So he put on a smirk and quickly walked over to Carlos.

   He thought back to the other day when Carlos had left simple kisses under his ear, leaving him wanting more, and Jay knew that's what he was going to do. Except he was going to make it better, and leave an impression.

   When Jay finally reached Carlos, he leaned his body against his and wrapped his arm around Carlos' back. Their hips connected with each other and Jay leaned to whisper in Carlos' ear.

   " She's watching, C," And you could hear the smirk in his voice.  Jay then lightly bit the bottom of Carlos' ear.

   _Holy shit._ Carlos had thought and refrained himself from jumping away. Jay dipped his head lower and attached his lips to the side of Carlos' neck and sucked lightly before kissing the spot. He did that in several other places and Carlos found himself slightly leaning his head over, making it easier for Jay. When Carlos let out a barely audible, low moan, Jay pushed his hips forward before pulling back and smirking at Carlos.

   " See you after class, babe," Jay let go of Carlos and walked off with a wink. Carlos stood there stunned as he touched the spots on his neck, his heart beating a thousand miles a minute. He found himself reminding himself, _It's just acting. Calm the hell down._

   Mal and Evie had been standing at their lockers, several feet down, when Jay had decided to attack Carlos' neck publicly, and to their surprise Carlos had let him. And it wasn't a short thing, they had watched for at least two minutes as Jay went at it on Carlos' neck. Evie was slack jawed and Mal's eyes were wide. Their stunt had pulled a small audience and people immediately began to talk when Jay walked away.

   " Holy shit," Mal muttered as her and Evie watched Jay walk away.

   " 20 bucks they'll hook up and continue dating," Mal stated as she stared at Carlos from across her locker.

   " 20 bucks they'll crash and burn before the month is over and all hell with break loose," Evie countered as she turned to look at Mal, both still very much surprised.

   Mal raised her eyebrow and bit her lip before sticking her hand out and shouting, " Deal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this was interesting enough.


	4. Instinct and Lies

      Carlos was no doubt about it, utterly confused. It had been two days since Jay had gave him several kisses to his neck and he could not forget about it, no matter how hard he tried. His stomach fluttered every time Jay came close to him, and when Jay's face was inches from him, he secretly wished that Jay would decide to kiss his neck again. He had told Jay they had to be convincing, so Jay was only doing what he had been told to. But Carlos really wished he hadn't obeyed. Because now he was screwed. He was developing feels, real actual feelings. He hadn't had that happen to him, ever, in his loveless life. But now he had them. And not just for anybody. They were for his best friend. He had feelings for _Jay_. And he wasn't sure what kind they were exactly, but they were feelings and it scared him.

     Jay wasn't helping Carlos' problem much, either. Jay, for the past twenty minutes had been sauntering around their room, shirtless. Carlos wasn't sure why he cared, because that was something Jay always had done. But now, under their certain circumstances, it made him uncomfortable, and he swore that Jay was doing it on purpose.

     Carlos was sitting on his bed, trying his best to look nonchalant as he flipped through a book, pretending to be occupied. When Jay turned his back towards Carlos, Carlos would carefully glance up and admirer Jay's back muscles. Five seconds later Jay would be facing him again, and Carlos would make sure his face was practically shoved in his book. Carlos slowly lifted his head again, hoping Jay wasn't paying attention as his eyes raked up and down Jay's body. He accidentally made eye contact with Jay and quickly snapped his gaze back to his book.

     Jay's signature smirk appeared as he felt eyes on him. He had felt Carlos' sharp gaze on him for the past ten minutes, and he tried to keep the corners of his mouth from turning up as he did his best to look clueless as he pretended to organize things around the room. At first he hadn't purposely left his shirt off, but once he caught Carlos’ eyes (who thought he was being discreet) on him, he decided why not play it up a little bit, and make it fun? He turned his head and instantly made eye contact with Carlos, who immediately whipped his head back down, and acted as if he had not just been staring at him. And Jay was _very_ glad that Carlos had been staring at him.

    Jay took that moment to lick his lips and roughly say, " Something wrong?"  He cocked his head as he folded his arms over and loved watching Carlos try to keep his eyes on Jay's face and not his glorious arms.

    Carlos stuttered, realizing he had been caught. "N-Nothing," He cleared his throat and averted his gaze.

     Jay licked his lips and stepped forward. " Sure, babe?" Jay smirked at that, knowing (hoping) he would get a reaction out of Carlos.

    Carlos wasn't going to say anything, he was afraid to say something, but somehow he mumbled, " Uh, it's making me uncomfortable.." He paused as he slightly blushed, " that you're not wearing a shirt." Carlos sighed heavily and closed his eyes, realizing what he had just said. When he opened his eyes, Jay was closer and he was still wearing a smirk and had a playful look in his eyes.

    "Well," Jay breathed out," It's making _me_ uncomfortable that you _are_ wearing a shirt," His voice had gotten lower and Carlos tried not to look as Jay licked his lips. Carlos blushed instantly, and decided that he was going to change the subject immediately.

   " We're going to have to leave for school soon, so you need to put on a shirt," Carlos tried to keep his tone loud and steady. He didn't want Jay to know that he was having an effect on him, because if Jay knew, then Carlos would never hear the end of it.

    " Or we could just both go shirtless," Jay tried again, though he had backed away from Carlos' bed.

    " Now." Carlos stated, loudly. He couldn't say much more than that. Jay slumped in defeat and went over to his dresser. He roughly opened the drawer and grabbed the first shirt he saw and threw it over his head.

    When Carlos hopped off his bed he was happy to see the yellow shirt and black jacket Jay had thrown on. When he went to walk towards the door, Jay swiftly stepped in front of him. Carlos glared up at Jay and he didn't like the gleam in Jay's eyes. He nervously chuckled before Jay spoke.

    " You owe me, C," Jay's voice was playful, but Carlos knew he was serious.

    " Do I?" Carlos cocked an eyebrow and stepped forward."For what ,exactly?"

     "Yep," Jay smirked, but didn't answer Carlos' other question.

     Carlos' eyes wandered to Jay's head and landed on his favorite red beanie. He quickly lifted his arm and pulled it from Jay's hair as he laughed, " I don't owe you anything." Carlos then took the beanie in both his hands and placed it firmly on his head. Carlos' action had shocked Jay momentarily, because he had actually stolen his beanie(things were never taken from Jay), and he actually looked cute in his beanie.

      Jay blinked, at a loss for words as he stared at Carlos in his red beanie, smirking up at him.

      Carlos was confused at Jay's silence so he slowly pulled the beanie off his head and tried to hand it back to Jay, not sure if he had accidentally angered the tall teenager.

     " Keep it," Jay said as he pushed the hand away and Carlos tilted his head, confused. " You look cute in it." Jay watched as Carlos' immediately blushed, but put the beanie back on, anyways. Carlos stepped back from Jay and turned to look in the mirror so he could properly adjust the beanie. He liked the way it matched his black and white tee, and his red shorts. But he also liked how he was wearing something that was Jay’s. Jay never let anyone wear or touch his things. So, he couldn’t help but feel special that Jay had insisted he wear something that was his.

      Carlos caught Jay’s eye in the mirror and Jay quickly ushered, “ You look good. Come on.” Carlos adjusted the beanie one last time before going to grab Jay’s hand. They walked down the hallway, hand-in-hand, with the door shutting softly behind them.

   Jay took several glances at Carlos as they walked towards the school.  He couldn’t help but stare at the boy happily. If Jay had known he liked seeing Carlos wearing his things this much, he would’ve made him do it sooner. And the best thing was that people knew that was Jay’s beanie. And everyone knew it was a big deal that Carlos had actually taken it from Jay, let alone worn it. It seemed to make a statement among people they passed. Carlos was Jay’s, and Jay was Carlos’. ( And for some reason, this statement made Jay’s stomach tumble).

   They walked casually to class, but took little time to speak to anybody. Not that many people wanted to speak to them, anyways. They passed Jane as they reached the school entrance, but instead of doing anything Jay simply rolled his eyes, grasped Carlos’ hand tighter, and pushed past her and rushed into the school.

  “ I hate her,” Jay stated loudly as they stopped in front of Carlos’ locker.

   Carlos chuckled as he released his grip from Jay’s. “ Yeah, I’m not too fond of her, either.” Carlos looked over Jay’s shoulder and watched as Jane quickly walked down the hallway to talk to some girl. “ I think she believes us now, though.”

    “ Bout time,” Jay laughed and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. Carlos was about to say something when Audrey walked by and he heard her say something about a test to Lonnie, who was walking by her side. Carlos’ eyes went wide and his demeanor instantly changed into one of panic. He was no longer looking at Jay, but rather quickly moving his eyes in every direction, frantically thinking about his situation.

   “What?” Jay stopped laughing. He watched as Carlos’ mood changed entirely, seemingly on the verge of a panic attack.

   Carlos didn’t pay any attention to Jay as he rambled, “ _Shit_. Oh fucking shit.” He went to put his hand in his hair, but dropped it back down to his side upon realizing the beanie was in his way. 

     The past two nights Carlos had been too busy thinking about Jay and hanging with Evie and Mal that he had completely forgotten about the huge science test. He wasn’t too shabby at science, or anything related, but he generally studied. This time, however, he did not study even a sentence and he had barely payed attention in class, his thoughts being on other important things. He was going to fail the test. And that was not okay with him.

   “ What’s. Wrong? “ Jay grasped Carlos’ shoulder and forced him to look at his face. Carlos’ face was still panicked and he spoke too quickly.

     “ I have a science test today! I totally forgot all about it, and I didn’t study at all for it! I’ve never not studied before. I don’t even know what the test is over! I’m going to fail, and then everyone will think I’m an idiot, which will only add to the list of names they call me.“

      A smile crept onto Jay’s face as he watched in fascination as Carlos rambled on about a test. He knew Carlos was obviously freaking out, but he couldn’t help smiling, Carlos looked adorable all riled up. And Jay knew that Carlos would most likely ace the test. Jay opened his mouth, intending to stop Carlos from rambling on anymore, but Carlos just talked louder.

    “ I can’t fail this test. I can’t believe I was so stupid to not-“ Jay decided quickly that he had to shut Carlos up. Without looking to see if anyone was actually watching, Jay gently pushed Carlos against the locker, blocking his body from moving, with his own. Carlos was shocked momentarily and without thinking Jay leaned in and roughly connected lips with Carlos. Carlos instinctively wrapped his arms around Jay’s back and Jay let his hands wrap around Carlos’ neck loosely. Jay pushed their bodies together as he roughly bit down on Carlos’ bottom lip. Carlos gasped out and Jay smirked as he took the opportunity to slide his tongue in with Carlos’. The hand that was on Jay’s back flew to his hair, and Carlos lightly pulled at it as their lips smacked together.

      Carlos was shocked at Jay’s sudden attitude. This was a total change for Carlos and he had not been expecting Jay to do this without warning him first. Their mouths moved together, warm and rough, and after their tongues danced together, Jay sucked down on his bottom lip. Carlos’ stomach leaped and he pulled Jay closer to him. Jay accidentally moved his hips against Carlos’, causing them both to groan out. Jay leaned back, and Carlos let his hand stay on Jay’s back as they both stared at each other, breathing heavily. Jay looked at Carlos with dilated eyes before leaning back in and giving Carlos a short, kind kiss.

    Jay pulled back completely and smiled, “ You’ll ace the test, C. I know you will.” He walked away, then and Carlos groaned. He had forgotten all about the test.

    After sighing heavily and gaining his composure, Carlos turned around and opened his locker. While he was gathering his books, a voice made him jump.

   “ Wow, that was a sight,” Carlos glanced up and came face to face to a smirking Chad. He was leaning against the locker, and Carlos looked him up and down, suspiciously.

    “ Go away, Chad,” Carlos ground out through his teeth, loudly slamming his locker door.  He went to walk away, but Chad was suddenly in front of him.

    “ I can’t believe it. You managed to turn Jay gay,” Chad laughed and Carlos frowned.

    “ Excuse me?” Carlos raised his voice, realizing that Chad was there to antagonize him.

     “ I mean, no girl or guy would ever be stupid enough to hook up with you, so you went begging to your only friend, who blindly chases after girls every day, and managed to convince him to drop his ways and become your fuck buddy? “ Carlos tried to say something, but Chad stepped closer to him and continued. “ What’d you do? Pay him?” Carlos was confused in Chad’s sudden interest in him and Jay’s ‘relationship.’

      “No!” Carlos yelled and had planned on telling Chad off when Chad decided that he was going to do more talking.

      “ Or is everyone at evil island just gay as shit? I bet those girls, Mal and Evie hit each other up all the time, so it was only normal for you and Jay to start hooking up, right? But you know what? That’s fucking disgusting. I bet you want to fuck me right now, yeah? That’s why I say we should send all your stupid evil gay asses back to your little gay island, so you don’t contaminate our home with more disgusting-“

     Mal had been on her way to class when she noticed up ahead, Chad slowly cornering Carlos to a wall. She lowered her eyes suspiciously and slowly walked up to them. She only heard half of the conversation before she was yelling and charging at Chad.

   “ Leave him the fuck alone!” She slammed him against the wall and Carlos scrambled away. Mal waited for Chad to stand up straight again before she roughly grabbed him by his collar. “ Go near Carlos, or any of us again, I will make sure no one finds your body,” She roughly pushed him away as she flashed him her green eyes. Chad quickly rushed away and Carlos looked at her shakily.

   “ Thanks,” Carlos spoke.

     Mal frowned slightly at him. “ You should’ve punched him, or said something to him.”

     Carlos shook his head. “ I didn’t want to be mean. It’s different here.” Mal sighed as she watched Carlos avert his gaze.

    “ Just because we chose good, doesn’t mean you can’t defend yourself,” Mal stated, and Carlos bit his lip. “ Remember that, C.” She waited for Carlos to nod before continuing to her class.

    Carlos grasped his books to his chest and walked slowly to class.

****

    Jay didn’t know why he had kissed Carlos like that. It was a spur of the moment thing, and he just wanted Carlos to stop freaking out. He got lost in the kiss, and he kissed Carlos like he would anybody else, which he shouldn’t have done. Because now he was having trouble focusing and he couldn’t get the feeling of Carlos’ lips against his out of his head.

    And he was feeling...things. He was having feelings for Carlos. He didn't like that. It was weird and stupid. Arrangements don't do feelings _. Fake_ arrangements definitely don't do feelings.

   The girl he sat down next to nudged his arm and he looked over at her. Her blonde hair was stuck behind her ear and she smirked at him. He smirked back, avoiding her dark brown eyes as he spotted a small silver chain around her neck. He scooted closer to her and licked his lips.

   “Hey,” He smiled, “ I’m Jay.”

    Hopefully, he could distract himself from Carlos. Just for a little while.

****

   Carlos sat on their bedroom floor, playing with Dude. It was both him and Jay’s free period, and for the past four days Jay had always came back to the room to talk with Carlos, but Jay had yet to return. Carlos kept eyeing the door, wondering what was taking him so long. Dude rolled around the room and Carlos laughed as he tried to focus on him instead of Jay.

     Carlos grabbed Dude’s favorite toy and rolled it across the room. He watched as Dude chased after it, but averted his gaze from the dog when he noticed a bag under Jay’s bed. He stared at the bag, confused as to what it could be. The bag hadn’t been there a week or two ago, so Carlos stood up. He didn’t want to be nosy, and it was Jay’s stuff, but he couldn’t help it. He bent down next to the bed and grabbed the bag from underneath. It made a loud noise as he picked it up and pulled it open. He set it down on Jay’s bed and sighed loudly when he saw the contents of the bag.

     Carlos rummaged through It and realized it must be the bag that Jay kept his stolen items in. There were several rings, bracelets, a few necklaces, and a watch. Carlos pushed the bag away and sighed again. He understood that Jay couldn’t help stealing. It had been drilled into his head since he was a toddler, and it was a habit now. But it still upset Carlos, because he didn’t understand why Jay needed so much, or why he thought he had to hide it from him. He wouldn’t have yelled at Jay, but now he wanted too simply because Jay thought he had to hide it.

     In the midst of looking through the stolen items, Carlos hardly noticed Evie enter the room. He turned around and stopped what he was doing as he got a look of Evie’s worried face. “ Do you have anything in here that could get you in trouble?” She seemed out of breath.

   “What?” Carlos lowered his eyes and Evie opened her mouth to speak. Before she could, however, their bedroom door opened and Mal and Jay came rushing in.

    “Carlos!” Jay yelled as Mal shut the door and hastily locked it.

   “What!” Carlos asked again, startled. Jay’s eyes went to his bed and he frowned upon seeing his bag lying open.

    “ They’re doing a surprise inspection!” Evie yelled, answering Carlos’ question.

    “ But only for us four,” Mal spat, clearly angry. Carlos looked between the three, all of them holding similar angry stances.

    “ What? That’s bullshit!” Carlos was now angry, too. Sure, they may be hiding a few things, but it wasn’t anything too horrible. It wasn’t like they were these big bad villains that the whole place made them out to be. It wasn’t fair for them to be the only ones to get ‘surprise inspections’. It just showed how little they were trusted, even after proclaiming their throne to good.

    “ Yeah, it is. But we only have twenty minutes until they come in here and decide to kick us out, so we need to get moving,” Jay spoke suddenly, hurrying over to his bed.

    “Yeah, we just had to throw out all our love-spell cookies and hide Mal’s spell book. So you guys need to hurry and hide whatever Jay’s stolen and whatever you might have,” Evie spoke as she crossed her arms.

      Carlos watched as Jay grabbed the bag of stolen goods from his bed and then grabbed Carlos’ arm. “ Do you have anything?” Carlos thought a moment. All he had stolen was a blanket, and some snacks from the cafeteria, and that probably wouldn’t get him in trouble, so he shook his head no.” Alright, come on,” Jay stuffed the bag into his backpack and then grabbed Carlos’ arm, pulling him out of the room.

   They sped walk down the hallway and hurried outside, trying their best to look normal.

   “ Where are we going?” Carlos asked, confused. Jay huffed and walked faster causing Carlos to whine in protest.

   “ Gonna hide these in a spot I know, near the bleachers,” Carlos looked over at Jay before looking forward again.

   “ Why’d you hide those from me?” Carlos questioned suddenly, and Jay tensed up.

   “ I didn’t,” He stood up straighter and tried to fake nonchalance. Carlos rolled his eyes.  Jay had always been good at lying to others, but never to Carlos. Carlos almost always knew when Jay wasn’t telling the truth.

    “ Please don’t lie to me, idiot.”

    Jay was silent for a moment before responding. ‘” I didn’t want you to worry….” He glanced over at Carlos, “ Or get mad at me or something.”

    “ I wouldn’t have,” Carlos coughed,” So don’t hide stuff from me. We’re both in the same general situation. I understand. I don’t need you hiding stuff from me.” They had made it to the bleachers and they had both stopped, staring at each other.

    “Okay. I promise, from now on, no more hiding,” Jay nodded his head in agreement. Carlos stood to the side as Jay placed the bag behind the bleachers and under a big bush. He looked up at Carlos and stated, “ No one ever comes here. It’ll be safe here.” Carlos nodded and they stared at each other again.

    Carlos bit his lip nervously and Jay snapped his eyes towards Carlos’ mouth. It was silent as they both surveyed the other, wondering what the other was thinking. Jay had to prevent his feet from moving any closer to Carlos, and Carlos’ stomach suddenly had butterflies. Jay accidentally put a foot forward, and Carlos cleared his throat loudly.

    “ We should go,” Carlos stated, as he removed his gaze from Jay and turned back towards the school.

   “ Yeah,” Jay mumbled as he ran his hand through his hair nervously. He followed behind Carlos, staying far enough behind.

     They didn’t hold hands back.

****

     Jay was lying in bed when Carlos finally returned. He slowly sat up and stared suspiciously as Carlos placed something on his dresser.

    “ Where’ve you been?” Jay asked roughly, causing Carlos to jump.

    Carlos turned towards Jay,” Talking with Mal and Evie.”

   Jay lowered his eyes as Carlos shuffled out of his red shorts. “ Really?” Carlos glared at Jay as he tugged off his shirt and threw on an oversized grey t-shirt.

   “Yes, really.” Carlos threw his dirty clothes to the side and Jay watched as he made his way over to their beds.

   Carlos looked between the two beds, as if deciding something, before he turned towards Jay and spoke sternly, “ I’m sleeping with you tonight. My bed’s cold and I’ll keep warmer this way.” Before Jay said anything Carlos made his way under the covers and turned to face Jay. Jay opened his mouth to say something but Carlos stopped him. “ Don’t protest. Im staying,” He smiled and Jay huffed, but smiled back.

   “ Did you get your bag back?” Carlos looked at Jay. Jay scooted closer to Carlos before talking.

   “Yeah, while you were out with Mal and Evie,” Jay moved his hand so it was placed between Carlos and his face. Carlos nodded softly and eyed Jay’s hand. “ Sorry for lying to you.”

    Carlos tried to keep his eyes off Jay’s face. “ It’s whatever,” He bit his lip again and moved his legs towards Jay slightly. They were silent as they stared at each other. Suddenly Jay slowly reached his finger out and started tracing something on Carlos’ cheek.

    Carlos looked down at Jay’s finger and chuckled. “ What are you doing?”

    Jay hummed quietly, “ Counting your freckles.” Carlos tried not to grin, but failed. “ When you’re finished tell me how many there are,” He responded as he let his heavy eyelids close.

     Jay didn’t respond as he continued to lightly trace the groups of freckles painted along Carlos’ face. Jay scooted closer, again, and Carlos could feel Jay’s hot breath on his nose.

    “ Night,” He heard Jay mumble.

   “ Night,” Carlos mumbled back, falling asleep to Jay absentmindedly tracing his freckles with his fingers.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to say that I (obviously) do not agree with the crude statements that Chad says to Carlos.  
> Also, from now on I will most likely post every two days due to school starting back up. I no longer have the time to write 3-4 hours daily.


	5. Broken and Bruised

     Jay tried to keep his eyes from wandering to Carlos' sleeping form as he got ready for the day. He threw on a shirt and found himself looking at Carlos again. He sighed and quickly snapped his gaze away. His chest tightened and he had to tell himself to stop focusing on Carlos.

     He didn't like what he was feeling, and he didn't need it. He always knew he felt different towards Carlos. The first year they all knew each other Jay liked being around Mal and Evie, but he found he liked being around Carlos more. He always tried to tell himself that it was because Carlos was a dude, and he was like a brother he never had. But then Jay began stealing things for Carlos ( "And you steal things for your dad because you're trying to gain his love" Mal had said and then smirked). And Jay realized what Mal had meant; what his feelings were for Carlos. So he stopped stealing things for Carlos, stopped going to his house, he distanced himself completely so he wouldn't have to deal with any feelings that villains weren't supposed to have. Carlos had been hurt by the sudden distance and they stopped hanging out, occasionally seeing each other by the force of Mal or Evie. So he had forgotten about his unwanted feelings for the De Vil boy, and now they were back. And he was freaking the hell out. ( But he wasn't going to push him away. Not again).

      He didn't want the feelings, though. He wasn't sure how to handle it, and it was getting harder and harder to control himself each day. He wanted to shout at Carlos for being so oblivious. He knew Carlos thought it was fake. Just a fake arrangement, just acting, they both had agreed. But Carlos had been _so_ stupid. It's never just acting. He tries to kiss Carlos like he does other girls, but he _can't_. He kisses Carlos with emotion, with meaning, and Carlos still thinks it's fake. And that makes him want to scream.

    ( But he knows Carlos deserves better. So Jay smiles and puts on a facade, happily agreeing _:  It's fake_ ).

       Jay angrily runs his hand over his forehead and tries to hold in a shout. He happens to glance at their alarm clock and takes note that it's 8:05. School had started five minutes before. He couldn't help but laugh lightly, knowing how angry Carlos was going to be.

     " Carlos!" He shouted as loud as he could. Carlos sat up quickly, nearly falling off the bed. He blinked his eyes several times before he opened them and glared at Jay. He slightly pouted and Jay couldn't help but smirk and admire Carlos' body because he was shirtless ( he was hardly ever shirtless).

    " Don't get mad at me," His smirk was laced through his voice and Carlos tried to lie back down, " We're late for school. Like, officially late." Jay's eyes lit up with humor as he watched Carlos wildly undo himself from his blankets and practically fall out of his bed. When he was back on his feet he dashed to find an outfit.

        " What the hell, Jay!"  He was scrambling around the room, grabbing things left and right. Jay had already finished getting ready, so he gladly watched Carlos frantically get ready.

     Carlos had a blue shirt bunched up in his left hand ( which was an odd color choice for him, Jay had thought) and was kicking at clothes on the ground as he shouted in a panic, " Shorts! I can't find any fucking shorts!"

     Jay chuckled, wondering why he hadn't checked in his fucking drawer. He spotted a pair of black shorts bundled up near his feet so he swiftly bent down and grabbed them. " Here ya go, dork wad," He shoved them at Carlos, who took them gladly. Carlos put on the shorts first, almost face planting as his leg missed the hole from being in such a rush. He hollered happily once his shorts were on and he hastily pulled the blue shirt over his head.

     Jay bit his lip and refrained from saying anything smart as he stared at what shirt Carlos had put on. It was a Tourney jersey. But not Carlos' jersey. It was _his_ jersey. It reached just above his knees and it hung loosely off his shoulders. And Jay had decided, even though the shirt practically engulfed Carlos, he looked _really really_ hot. ( And Jay _really_ needed to do something about that).He watched as Carlos' mouth opened into an 'o', and he unknowingly stepped forward. He didn't notice the "I'm sorry," Carlos had managed to say before he had put his hand on the back of Carlos' neck and pulled Carlos' lips to his own. Carlos stilled in shock, but didn't pull away as Jay bit his lip ( which was something he did a lot, and he totally did not like it). Jay basked shortly in the softness of Carlos' lips before he realized what he had done and pulled back, as if he had been burned.

      Jay stumbled far enough away before stuttering, " I'm sorry, I don't know why I did that." He nervously ran his fingers through his hair and his chest tightened as he waited for Carlos to respond.

    Carlos ducked his head down as he blushed but quickly looked back up, " It's fine," He spoke as he seemed to shake it off. " It's fine," He smiled at Jay, putting on his best nonchalant facade. Jay's eyebrows fused together and he opened his mouth several times, not knowing exactly what to say.

    " Come on," In the time that Jay had zoned out on the fact that he had actually kissed Carlos ( and Carlos had known it was _real_ ) Carlos had made his way over to their door, and was waiting in the door way for Jay. " Don't need to be any later for school."

     Jay nodded and quickly made his way to the door. He reached his hand out for Carlos' and tried not to frown as Carlos pulled his hand away from his own. Jay guessed he hadn't done such a good job of looking careless because Carlos harshly stated, " There's no one who can see us. So, we don't need to hold hands."

      Jay gulped and bit the inside of his cheek as he nodded his head slowly, " Right, right," He cleared his throat, suddenly not wanting to look at Carlos. " Let's go."

   They walked down the hallway quickly and quietly. Jay didn't mention that Carlos was still wearing his jersey.

****

     Carlos hadn't meant to snap at Jay like that. He wasn't mad at Jay. He was just frustrated with the whole situation. He had been caging his emotions and forcing himself to keep his useless feelings down and when he had thought he had possibly gotten them under control Jay went and kissed him. Part of him was ecstatic at the fact because he knew the kiss was real, but knowing the kiss was real was what also made him so angry. He knew Jay returned some sort of feelings, but they couldn't have those feelings. They shouldn't even show those feelings. Didn't Jay realize that?

     They had reached the main hallway to their classrooms and Carlos got a glimpse of Jay. He had been quiet the whole time and seemed to be trying his best to stay as far away as possible from Carlos. Carlos cringed, realizing what he had accidentally done. Before Jay could walk into his classroom, Carlos walked up to him and squeezed his hand.

    " Sorry," He smiled sheepishly, and Jay hesitantly smiled back. " You can hold my hand anytime you want."  Jay broke out into a full smile as Carlos let go of his hand. Jay wasn't sure why that statement made him so happy.

   " See you after class, right?" Jay questioned to Carlos, who had made his way to the other side of the hallway.

    " Right!" Carlos responded loudly. He smiled once more at Jay before he slipped into the classroom.

       That was the last time they planned on talking about the kiss. They both planned on going along as normal  ( even if they both couldn't stop thinking about it ) and not to discuss it. That's how all arrangements worked back on the Isle, so that's how they would work them in Auradon. Arrangements were like long-term hook-ups. You don't discuss your feelings, it's a body to body relationship. You don't discuss emotions, you don't discuss your problems with the situation, or how much you like that person. So, Jay and Carlos both knew they weren't going to discuss anything anytime soon.

       But Carlos liked that Jay kissed him simply because he wanted to, even if it did cause problems. He knew Jay was most likely going to do it again, but that didn't mean Carlos was going to discuss it with him. He was going to let things happen however they wanted to. As long as no real feelings were displayed or discussed, everything would be fine.

   ***

      Carlos was making his way to his next class when he felt someone run up behind him and place several quick kisses on the side of his neck. He yelped in surprise and the perpetrator laughed back. Carlos groaned once he realized who it was.     

     " Jay!" Carlos complained as he shrugged off Jay's hand that was tickling the back of his neck.

       Jay laughed again and Carlos was happy to see that the laugh reached his eyes. Jay grasped Carlos' hand and gave him a short kiss before rushing away. " Gotta go, babe!"

       Carlos smiled to himself as he watched Jay run off. His smile quickly faded when he heard someone yell quite loudly at him, " Fucking fag!" He immediately tensed up and clenched his jaw shut, determined not to say anything. Confrontation probably would only make the situation worse and he didn't have time for it.

        Without looking back, and ignoring the several laughs pointed at him, he angrily made his way up the stairs that led to the hallway for his next class. He stomped through the hallway, bumping into people as he went. He was about to make his way into the classroom when Jane stopped him.

          " Hey Carlos," She smiled . He groaned as he tried to go around her, and she responded by stepping back in front of him.

        " Not now," He gritted through his teeth as he quickly bypassed her, making sure to roughly hit her shoulder with his own.

          " But I-" She stepped towards him again and he actually growled. He whipped around and glared at her, and Jane stepped back in surprise at the fact Carlos was acting so harshly towards her. Carlos wasn't having the best day, and he was getting really tired of her, so he wasn't afraid to act out.

         Without thinking, he screamed, " I don't want to fucking date you!" Everyone in the hallway stopped immediately and stared at Carlos, slightly shocked, because nobody had heard him ever yell. Jane's eyes were wide, but Carlos hardly noticed, too upset with everything. " So leave me the hell alone!" He sent her one more glare before he roughly opened the door to the classroom and barreled inside.  Jane was left in the hallway as she stood frozen in shock. After a few seconds she walked away angrily. He hadn't even heard what she wanted to say.

   ****

         Jay mentally rolled his eyes as he laughed at a horrible joke the blonde girl he had been flirting with said. He had been eyeing her necklace and ring all day, and he had to have it. She twirled a blonde curl around her finger and Jay licked his lips as he moved closer.

       " You have really pretty eyes," Jay spoke as he let his hand wander to hers. She didn't notice as he picked at the ring on her finger.

         She laughed and smiled before saying, " Dont you have a boyfriend?" She, however, didn't move away from him.

        Jay stilled as he placed the ring into his pocket and he stared at her, thinking of something to say. He suddenly felt guilty, which was stupid. He didn't need to feel guilty if it was a fake relationship.

            He smirked as he leaned in to whisper into her ear, hoping to find an opening to swipe her necklace. " Yeah, but you're more entertaining."

            

****

     Jay walked out of class happy. He hadn't gotten the chance to get her necklace, but he did manage to get her ring. He walked slowly as he scanned the hallway for Carlos. He spotted a black and white mop of hair in the sea of people and quickly dashed over to him.

     " Hey!" He chirped as he tightly grabbed Carlos' hand. He could instantly tell that Carlos was in a mood, and he knew that he was going to have to be careful with what he said.

    " Hey.." Carlos grumbled back, sounding slightly upset. They walked down the hallway together and Jay looked down at Carlos with concern.

      " What's wrong?" Jay noted that Carlos rolled his eyes before replying.

      " Some people called me a fag today," He spoke softly and Jay had to listen carefully to hear him. Upon hearing his statement Jay tensed up and bit his tongue to prevent himself from saying anything stupid. He didn't like that people were picking on Carlos, and he hated the fact that Carlos was probably doing nothing to stop it.

    " Who?" His voice came out strained and he winced at himself.

    " I don't know. I didn't stop to look," Carlos had began to distance himself from Jay, causing Jay to frown.

      Jay squeezed Carlos' hand gently. " Well if I had gotten names I would've beaten their asses." He smirked and watched as Carlos rolled his eyes again.

      " No you wouldn't," Carlos scoffed. They were now outside, making their way to their dorms to talk to each other during their free period. Jay smiled happily at that, because he would be able to talk about a few important things with Carlos.

        " Yes, I would," Jay stated as he gazed at Carlos seriously. Carlos stared back before he averted his gaze and forced them to start walking again.

        " Well then that would make you an idiot. I can take care of myself. I don't need you to protect me. Besides, you know we're not allowed to fight. If you got into a fight you'd get sent back to the Isle before you even know what's happening," Carlos kicked at the dirt as he spoke. He was annoyed that Jay thought he had to protect him. He could take care of himself. He wasn't weak.

        " Yeah well it'd be-" Jay began but slowly stopped talking as he furrowed his brow at Doug who was walking quickly to them, yelling. He and Carlos stopped as they waited for Doug to reach them. He was breathing heavily, and his face was red.

         " Carlos!" Doug wheezed as he stopped in front of the couple. " Jane wanted me to-"

          Carlos didn't let him finish before he loudly groaned and yelled out, " I told her to leave me alone! I made it very clear that I did not want to have anything to do with her!" Jay turned to look at Carlos, confused at his apparent (and rare) anger. He was about to ask him what had happened but Doug spoke before he could.

          " I know but, you see, she real-" Doug talked nervously as he stared at the anger on Carlos' face.

          " Shut up!" Carlos screamed and Jay flinched. Doug backed up slightly and cowered in himself, ready to be ranted at again. " I don't care about what she has to say. Just tell her, and make it very clear, that I have a fucking boyfriend and don't want her speaking to me anymore about some stupid relationship," Carlos' face was red and he had Jay's hand in a death grip.

          Doug stood straighter and looked curiously at them both. His eyes flicked between the two of them and then down to their intertwined hands before looking back up at their faces. " So you two _are_ dating?"

          Carlos and Jay both exchanged confused glances before Jay slowly responded, " Uh...yes." He lowers his eyes at Doug and Doug responds by staring at them curiously again.

          He pointedly looks at Jay before asking, " So you  two _are_ gay, then?" Jay is thrown off by his question and shifts uncomfortably.

          " We're not gay," Jay chuckles nervously as he shifts his gaze behind Doug. Carlos tenses up  beside him but Jay doesn't notice. Doug furrows his brows and looks at their intertwined hands. Jay notices and nervously laughs again as he tries to correct himself. " I mean, he's gay. I'm not gay. Well I-"

        " He likes girls too," Carlos cuts in, realizing Jay was nervously rambling. Carlos tried not to focus on the fact that Jay seemed so adamant to prove that he wasn't gay. It wasn't like there was anything wrong with being gay.

         Jay smiles widely at Carlos before looking back at Doug. " See, not gay!"

        Doug slowly shakes his head, " Okay...." They all awkwardly stare at each other for a few seconds before Doug speaks. " I'm gonna go tell Jane..." He doesn't wait for them to respond before he's turned around and getting far away from them, very quickly.

              " What?" Carlos says once Doug is gone. They both look at each other as they laugh. " That was weird."

              " That was really weird," Jay agreed as they began to walk again. They swung their hands as they walked and Carlos was content with the silence. He tried not to groan when Jay decided to speak.

             " So what happened with Jane?" He asked hesitantly and was wary of what the answer was going to be. He was going to be pissed if she had attempted to kiss him again.  He was going to be even more pissed if she had kissed him.

              " Oh my god," Carlos complained as he threw his head back in frustration. " She tried to stop me in the hallway today and I wasn't in the mood so I told her to leave me alone, but she didn't listen and tried to say something, so I might have yelled at her in front of everyone, that I didnt want to fucking date her...." Carlos began to mumble and turned his face away from Jay's.

            Jay laughed loudly. He couldn't believe Carlos, his adorable, little puppy dog Carlos had actually yelled and sworn at Jane. In front of everyone. " No way! Good job, dude. It was about time someone put her in her place," Jay smiled and Carlos grumbled as he unlocked the door to their dorm.

            " Yeah and I also might have told her to leave me the hell alone," He hastily opened the door and threw his bag down as he made his way over to Dude. Carlos laughed as Dude happily rubbed up against his leg.

             " Hell yes!" Jay fist pumped in the air. He shut the door and watched as Carlos walked over to his dresser.

           " I feel bad, actually," Carlos stated as he rummaged through the drawers. Jay frowned and folded his arms over his chest.

           " Dude, you were finally stick-" Jay began but was cut off as Carlos sighed dramatically.

            " No, it was stupid of me to do. I shouldn't have yelled at her like that," Carlos bit his lip as he glared at Jay. He turned back around and pulled out a black shirt. Jay watched sadly as Carlos whipped off Jay's jersey and replaced it with his own black shirt.

          " Okay, so what? Are you going to apologize to her?" Jay snapped, not liking the idea of Carlos speaking to her again. He wished someone would turn Jane into a lizard like they had with Maleficent.

          " I don't know...maybe," Carlos sighed as he sat down on his bed. Jay didn't move from his spot next to his desk, content with watching Carlos from afar.

            Jay shook his head in disagreement but he found himself stating softly, " You should, if you think that's what you need to do," He tried not to cringe as he let the words leave his mouth. Him and Carlos stared at each other for a long moment until Carlos started getting under his covers. Jay watched as Carlos buried his head under his pillow and hid his face from the sun beaming through the window.

          " I'm taking a nap," Carlos' voice was muffled and Jay couldn't help but laugh. " Wake me up when it's time for class," Carlos peaked his head out from under his pillow before quickly putting it back.

          " Alright, C." He grinned as he plopped down onto his own bed. " No promises, though."

**

        Carlos was mad. He wasn't furious, but he was mad, and annoyed. He had woken up from his nap too late. He was twenty minutes late to his class and Jay was nowhere to be found. He had actually ran into class and then he had gotten a warning. If he got another warning, he would get a detention. And if he got too many detentions he was in danger of being sent back to the Isle. Which was why he was mad. He had been mad at Jay a lot, lately.

        And Jay wasn't helping himself with that problem. Carlos was currently refraining himself from getting furious. After the last class of the day he had quickly left, wanting to find Jay. He planned on ranting at him, not yelling, but ranting. But he couldn't find him. He had basically disappeared. ( Which Jay always did when someone happened to be mad at him). Carlos was about to head to find Mal and Evie when he spotted Jay's hair along with his red beanie, standing next to a blonde girl he had seen Jay with other times before. Carlos scowled as he watched from afar as Jay and the girl spoke to each other.

        He was going to interrupt their moment, but Jay's movements prevented him from doing so. Jay had placed his hand on the back of the girls neck and was leaning in to say something in her ear. He watched as she looked up at Jay and laughed, prompting Jay to step closer. Carlos wasn't sure why he was suddenly so angry, or why his heart had suddenly sunk. He didn't realize he had his hands clenched or that he was glaring at the girl. He knew Jay flirted with girls, he saw him do it all the time. He had even told him to flirt with other girls if he wanted, but now for some reason Carlos really wished he  hadn't told Jay that it was okay. Because now Carlos was angry. Angry that the girl was flirting. That Jay was flirting back. Angry that it wasn't him Jay was flirting with, but some stupid blonde stuck up princess. Without a second thought Carlos turned around and quickly walked away from Jay and the girl. He wasn't jealous, he didn't care. He _so_ did not care.

            He was half way to his room when he heard Jay's voice behind him. He bit his tongue as he tensed up.

            " Hey Carlos!" Jay shouted. Carlos didn't turn around and didn't stop walking. Jay furrowed his brow but assumed Carlos hadn't heard him. " Hey, wait up!" Jay jogged quickly up to Carlos and Carlos prevented himself from walking faster.

          " How was your day?" Jay grinned as he tried to put his arm around Carlos' shoulder.

          " Fine," Carlos snapped as he moved out of Jay's embrace. Jay frowned slightly and tried to reach for his hand instead. He was confused when Carlos pulled his hand away from him, again.

          " What's wrong?" Jay asked concerned. He had thought they had gotten past their issue. He was confused on why Carlos was pushing him away again.

         " Nothing," Carlos' voice was cold and he wouldn't look at Jay.

          " Don't lie to me," Jay snapped back. Carlos stopped and finally looked at Jay. Jay had been expecting him to glare at him, or have a scowl etched into his face. But he was completely deadpanned, causing Jay to step forward, scared that something bad had happened.

          " You made me late for class," Carlos stated as he tried not to glare at him, " Again."

          " What?" Jay almost wanted to laugh. That's the reason why Carlos seemed so mad? " No dude, I woke you up," Carlos lowered his eyes and scoffed.

           " No you didn't!" He flailed his arms out and Jay laughed. Carlos wanted to punch him for laughing.

          " Yes, I did," Jay was laughing and Carlos was trying not to yell at him.

            " Okay, yeah sure," Carlos walked away from Jay, " Where are you headed to?"

             Jay moved from his spot and jumped over to Carlos. " Our room, I guess," Carlos nodded before clicking his tongue.

            " Okay, well, I'm going to talk to Mal and Evie," Carlos moved over when Jay tried to move closer to him.

            " Oh, I'll come with you, then," Jay responded and Carlos quickly spoke.

            " No, I need to talk to them alone," He lied through his teeth and Jay stared at him, determining what was up with him.

             " Oh okay," Jay mumbled, " Alright, guess I'll see you later then."

             Carlos tried to smile as he walked the other way, away from Jay. " Yeah," He shouted it as he scurried down the hallway and Jay's heart broke a little. Why did it seem like Carlos hated him so much?

****

         Carlos felt slightly guilty for snapping at Jay, but Jay had done some stupid things. And now Jay probably thought Carlos hated him.

          Carlos shook his head at himself. He smiled at people he passed by and tried to walk quicker to Mal and Evie's room. He was turning a corner when he rammed into a body. He made a grunt and backed up, preparing to apologize. When he backed away and saw the face of who he had ran into, he cringed and backed further away.

       " Well look," Chad smiled and Carlos rolled his eyes, " It's the school's new fag." Carlos tensed up and clenched his jaw as the other two people next to Chad laughed.

    " Haha, funny," Carlos retorted. He moved to his right and tried to go around Chad but the guy behind Chad blocked him.

      " Actually, it's not funny," Chad responded back and Carlos raised his eyebrow in confusion. " Me and a couple of others have decided that it's just not okay for someone to display their gayness as much as you do. We don't need you to infect the whole school with your horrible decisions. You shouldn't even be allowed in the same room as us. You're a disease. You're a villain and you're worthless," They slowly began to advance him and Carlos tried to back away, realizing what was going to happen. He sadly found out he was blocked when he ran into the chest of some black haired dude. " So it's about time you're treated how the worthless and villains are supposed to be treated," before Carlos realized what was happening Chad had landed a blow to his stomach. He tried to scramble away but his arms had gotten restrained by one of Chad's friends. Carlos cowered as he saw Chad swing his arm back. Carlos grunted out when Chad's knuckle landed on his eye.

          " You. Are. Worthless," Chad spat and the two guy's laughed. Carlo's head was pounding, but the statement made him furious. He managed to rip his arm out of the guy's grip and land a hard blow on Chad's eye. He had gladly returned the favor. Carlos smirked and punched Chad again in the stomach, but his victory was short lived as his legs were kicked out from under him.

            Carlos landed roughly on the ground and he felt a sharp pain in his side. He tried not to scream out as he felt several kicks to his ribs. When he tried to get up they had kicked him in the face so he did the only thing he could think of. He wrapped his arms and hands over his face and cowered into a ball.

_You are worthless._

****

             Jay was becoming worried. Very worried. He was pacing the room and watching the door, hoping that Carlos would barge in at any moment. He had been gone for two hours. Mal and Evie had stopped by and Jay had been confused why Carlos wasn't with them. They said they hadn't seen him and his stomach flipped. But then he thought that maybe Carlos had just gotten distracted; that happened to him a lot.

              But now it was ten minutes until curfew and Carlos was nowhere.

              Jay snapped his head up when he heard the lock on the door click open and he tried not to jump at the door when it slowly opened. He smiled happily, but immediately dropped it when he saw Carlos. Carlos was hunched over and had blood running from his nose. He had a bruise forming on his jaw and on his left eye. His eyes were downcast and when he walked towards Jay, Jay noticed he had a slight limp.

            " What the hell!" Jay shouted out in anger at whoever had done that to Carlos, and in fear. He rushed over to Carlos and wrapped his arm around Carlos' waist. Carlos didn't shy away from the touch, instead deciding on leaning into the warmth of Jay's body.

            " Carlos?" Jay questioned as he ran his hands over Carlos' body, looking for more injuries. Carlos had slowly sat down on his bed and Jay was crouched down in front of him, staring at his face. " Are you okay? Oh my god, I'm gonna fucking kill whoever did this," He shouted but lowered his voice when Carlos flinched.

             " It hurts," Carlos admitted, knowing it would be stupid to lie about the obvious. He raised his hand to wipe at the blood on his nose and accidentally brushed the split on his lip. He closed his eyes in pain and Jay grasped his hand, pulling it away.

           " No, don't. Don't," He said softly as he rubbed his thumb against Carlos' hand. " It's okay, you're okay," Jay got up quickly and dived over to his own bed. He stuck his arm under it and grasped at the first-aid box. He dashed back over to Carlos and took out several band-aids along with towels and other cleaning items.

            He wiped away the blood on Carlos' face with a towel and tried not to flinch when Carlos winced. " I'm sorry," Jay whispered as he carefully placed a band-aid to a cut on Carlos' jaw.

           Carlos hadn't spoken since Jay began to clean him up so Jay was shocked when Carlos blurted out hoarsely, " It was Chad."

           Jay tensed and stopped tending to Carlos' injuries. " What?" He seethed as he stood up.

            " Him and two other guys did it because I'm gay," Carlos choked on the words and Jay's heart broke. He was going to actually kill them. He was going to take any sort of weapon and beat their heads in.

          " I'm gonna kill them," Jay shouted, " I'm going to fucking them!" Jay clenched his hands and turned away from Carlos. Chad was not going to get away with beating Carlos up. He had messed with the wrong group of people.

           " I really want you to," Carlos admitted. Jay turned around and ran over to Carlos. He would do whatever Carlos needed him to do.

          " Okay," Jay nodded his head, " Babe, babe. I promise, I will fucking beat their asses. I will go do it right now. Babe I promise they won't bother you ever fucking again," Jay was so wrapped up in his anger that he hadn't even realized he had called Carlos babe or that he had placed three kisses to Carlos' forehead.

            " I really want you to," Carlos said again, " But you probably shouldn't."

            Jay sighed,  " Babe, I gotta do something," Carlos stared at Jay before slowly nodding.

            " Fine, go beat their asses," Carlos smiled weakly, " y'know, if you want."

             Jay stood up quickly, " Right now?" He really wanted to pound Chad's head in, but he didn't want to leave Carlos alone, either.

           " Right now," Carlos nodded and Jay dashed for the door.

           " They're not going to find their bodies!" Jay yelled and he winked at Carlos before he left.

            Carlos' breath hitched for a moment, and he thought hard. Jay wouldn't actually kill them. Would he?

            Jay was fucking vengeful. No one messes with Carlos. No one makes fun of his insecurities without getting hell to pay. Cruella had to learn the hard way, and so would Chad. And after Jay beat their asses to a bloody pulp, he would make sure Mal found a few good spells in her book to use on Chad and the other idiots.

             He was going to make sure they knew never to mess with the villain kids ever again.

****

          Jay arrived back to their dorm quickly. He had been able to beat Chad until half of his face was swollen, but he hadn't found the other two guys, since Carlos hadn't known their names. He walked into the room quietly but froze when he heard what sounded like crying coming from Carlos' bed. Jay shut the door and quickly rushed over to Carlos.

        He crawled into Carlos' bed and Carlos let him. He gently wrapped his arms around Carlos and pulled him into his chest. " What's wrong?" He asked softly and he could feel Carlos shaking.

       " They're just like my mom," He croaked out and Jay tensed, suddenly angry again. " I don't know why they care so much. I thought that it would be okay for me to be who I actually am here, but I still get beat up for being gay. Here's no better than the island. I was stupid for thinking here would be better. I'm worthless no matter where I go," And Jay's heart broke and he pulled Carlos even closer, suddenly feeling extremely protective.

        " Don't ever fucking say that," Jay tried to keep his voice steady as he grabbed onto Carlos' hand. " You're not worthless. You're fucking perfect." Jay let himself sit up slightly and place a light kiss on a tear rolling down Carlos' face before he laid back down, gripping Carlos towards him again. " You're perfect, fucking perfect. You're smart, you're so smart, Carlos. You have so many people who care about you, you're not worthless. Please don't say you're worthless." Jay could feel Carlos lean into him and Jay snuggled his head into Carlos' hair.

           " Thank you," Carlos breathed out after many minutes of silence. Carlos let his eyes fall shut as he smiled contently with Jay's arms wrapped tightly around him, their legs intertwined.

           " You're perfect," Jay spoke one last time into Carlos' hair. Carlos hummed softly and Jay let his eyes shut, too.

          Jay sighed, _I think I might love you. ( No you don't )_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update took so long! I found out that having three dual credit classes is a lot of work and takes up a lot of my time. Because of this I will most likely only be able to update once a week now. So don't freak out if it takes forever to update. If I decide to quit updating/abandon this story I will let you know.


	6. The Freckle Constellation

      The next morning, Carlos had managed to slip out from Jay’s embrace and wander over to the mirror to inspect himself. His stomach sunk and he cringed at the bruise along his jaw and the scrapes lining his neck. He gingerly touched the blue bruise and pushed on it, testing to see how bad it was. The pain was bearable so he smiled softly in relief. He leaned closer towards the mirror and realized he had a small cut on his upper lip, but it wasn’t too bad. After scanning himself over for a few more seconds he angrily shut his eyes and clenched his fist. He had been weak, to let that happen to himself. He could’ve fought back harder. But he had chosen not to from fear of being sent back to Cruella. And so now he looked like he had gotten into a fight with a lawn mower and lost. He may not be completely worthless, but he was weak. Auradon had made him weak. He was about to (regretfully) punch the mirror when he heard Jay stir. He dropped his arm and snapped his head to look at Jay.

      Carlos watched as Jay pat at the spot next to him, searching for Carlos. When he couldn’t find him he quickly shot up, eyes wide.

      “ I’m right here,” Carlos spoke softly. His voice seemed to calm Jay as he slumped back down, looking less alert. Carlos stepped back towards the bed so him and Jay could talk properly.

      “ Oh,” Jay responded as he blinked sleepily at Carlos. “ Are you okay?” He asked the question as he scanned Carlos’ body, frowning slightly. He truly looked like shit. But he bet Chad looked even worse, which eased his mind a little.

      “ I’ve been better,” He tried to laugh as he sat himself down next to Jay. The bed sunk down and he scooted himself back under his covers, slightly pulling them away from Jay. “ What’d you do to Chad?” Carlos had been debating on whether or not he should ask that question, thinking if he didn’t know the answer then somehow maybe Jay wouldn’t get in trouble for whatever he did.

     Jay stared at Carlos for a few seconds before stating angrily,” I beat his fucking face in. He got what he deserved,” He didn’t stop looking at Carlos as he spoke. Carlos nodded slowly, knowing they were all about to get into some deep trouble. He was happy Chad had gotten a beating, although, Carlos thought he deserved a lot more than just a few punches to his ‘pretty’ face.

     Carlos turned his eyes away from Jay’s hard stare, trying to look at anything else. Jay, however, did not drop his gaze. He couldn’t keep his eyes off the array of bruises on Carlos’ face, and the scrapes on his neck. His eyes landed on the brown leather necklace around Carlos’ neck. Jay furrowed his brows and lifted his hand to touch at his own neck. When he found that his necklace wasn’t there he gaped at Carlos.

     “ Dude!” Jay spoke loudly and Carlos jumped. “ That’s my necklace!” Jay was gaping as he pointed at the brown necklace around Carlos’ neck, wondering how he had managed to take it from him.

      Carlos lightly smirked before stating proudly, “ Yeah. What about it?” He then grinned as he twisted it into his fingers. Jay watched him twisting at it before he looked back up at his face.

     “ You stole it!” Jay couldn’t believe that Carlos had actually stolen something successfully. And from him…no one had ever tried to steal from him. But he knew that was why Carlos was grinning so triumphantly.

     “ Yeah, I did,” Carlos smirked. Jay leaned closer to him so Carlos leaned back. Jay lowered his eyes at Carlos, and Carlos did the same.

     “ So, give it back!” Jay demanded, slightly annoyed, but enjoying the bantering. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was slightly proud of Carlos.  He reached forward to try to swipe it, but Carlos ducked out of the way, dodging his hand.

     “ No, I stole it fair and square! You don’t give back things you steal, so why should I?” Carlos couldn’t stop smiling as he egged Jay on, wondering what his next move would be. The necklace had actually been easy to take off of Jay. The clasp at the end had already been partially undone and Jay was too busy tending to him to notice, so Carlos took the opportunity to carefully slip it off and shove it in his pocket. Carlos was surprised that Jay hadn’t realized it was gone until the next morning. He had successfully taken it without Jay knowing for like nine hours.

       “ You’re _Carlos_. You don’t steal things. That’s my job,” Jay’s voice was rough as he tried to reach for the necklace again.

      “ Well maybe now it’s mine too,” Carlos stated, swatting Jay’s hand away. Jay lowered his eyes and Carlos cocked his head. They stared at each other until the tension was broken by Jay’s loud laugh.

      “ You couldn’t steal anything if your life depended on it,” Jay was laughing and Carlos frowned. He ignored Jay’s laughs as he quickly thought of something. He smiled and sat up straighter, locking eyes with Jay.

      “ You can teach me,” Carlos smiled and Jay stopped laughing.

        The thought of Carlos stealing stuff for fun made Jay laugh, a lot. Because no way would their little Carlos be able to steal, no way at all. But when he said that, more like demanded, that he should teach him how, Jay’s stomach did flops. For some reason, the thought of Carlos wanting Jay to teach him to steal, to be bad, made Jay feel things. (Really really great things). Jay scanned Carlos’ face, thinking over his answer. Carlos was smirking up at Jay, and Jay realized that Carlos could be really good at stealing. With his dark brown eyes, and his adorable smile, or that flirtatious smirk, he could put anybody under his spell. He could be amazing at it. 

        “ Fine,” Jay breathed out. He scooted closer to Carlos, so they were both sitting directly across from each other on Carlos’ bed, faces inches from each other. “ But only if you give me back my necklace.” Jay’s voice was still slightly husky from waking up and Carlos tried not to shudder as he could feel Jay’s warm breath on his nose. Jay couldn’t help but watch as Carlos licked his lips nervously.

      “ No way,” Carlos stuttered. His right hand automatically flew to the brown leather around his neck, thinking it would stop Jay from taking it back. Jay laughed lowly before he moved his face closer to Carlos.

      ”I guess I’ll have to take it back, then,” Jay’s voice was low and Carlos was going to interject but before he could, he was suddenly pushed back and his back was lying on the bed. He yelped out in surprise, causing Jay to laugh.

     “ What are-“ Carlos asked right before hands attacked his sides and he was laughing uncontrollably. Jay’s hands were tickling his sides and Carlos tried to wiggle out of his embrace, but Jay had him caged in. “ Stop!” He screamed out breathlessly, still laughing.

     “ Nope!” Jay laughed. Carlos watched as Jay’s hand slowly made its way up his side and to his neck, headed for the necklace. Carlos tried to move his head, hoping it would make it harder for Jay to undo the necklace and take it away. He could feel Jay’s fingers dancing on his neck, wiggling around and grasping the leather.

    Carlos realized quickly that Jay would probably take it back if he didn’t do or say something. He had stolen it fair and square and he wanted to keep it. He didn’t want to give it back. He wanted to keep something of Jay’s permanently. With all his might Carlos let himself scream, “ Nooo!” The scream was loud and it echoed in the room. Jay immediately stopped tickling Carlos and widened his eyes in confusion. He had a sudden thought that he may have accidentally hurt Carlos.

    “ I want it,” Carlos spoke out breathlessly about the necklace. Jay’s hands were still rested on Carlos’ side and neck as he stared down at the boy. Jay’s eyes wandered over Carlos’ face, to his freckles, the bruises. He snapped his gaze to Carlos’ lips before bringing them back up to Carlos’ dark eyes. Carlos did nothing but stare back, raking up and down Jay’s body hovering above him.

    Jay had a moment of, _What am I doing?_ And then he felt his fingers graze something around Carlos’ neck and he remembered: _Oh yeah. My necklace._ But he quickly forgot about it again as Carlos shifted below him.

    Carlos could feel Jay’s fingers grazing his neck, but he ignored them. He was too focused on the hand that was grasping his side and the way that Jay was hovering above him, breathing loudly. Carlos was having trouble breathing and his stomach was a mess. His eyes landed on Jay's lips and he watched as Jay licked them. Jay shifted as if he was going to move off of Carlos so without doing much thinking Carlos grabbed the back of Jay's neck and pulled his lips down to his own. In an instant their bodies were moving together while they kissed each other blindly. The kiss was rough. It was needy. And Carlos loved it.

      Jay's lips were scraping against the cut on Carlos' lip, the harshness of Jay's mouth against his own causing it to burn and sting. But Carlos didn't mind the pain. It was dull compared to everything else that was happening.

    Carlos shifted his legs so Jay could fit in between them comfortably and wound his hands up into Jay's hair, occasionally tugging at it. Jay nipped at Carlos' bottom lip as he placed his arms on either side of Carlos, caging him in. Jay knew they shouldn't be doing it, that it just fucked up everything. But he didn't care. He didn't wait to stop to think of the consequences; if anything would change later. He just went for it because he wanted to.  Fuck everything else at the moment. He had to kiss Carlos.

     Jay broke away from Carlos, causing Carlos to whine in protest. However, the whine formed into a groan when Jay attached his mouth to the outer corner of Carlos' jaw. Carlos could feel Jay's eyelashes flutter against his skin, tickling the spot. He smiled as he wrapped Jay's hair around his fingers, pulling at it, trying to angle Jay's head and guide it towards a spot on his neck. He shifted his head over, exposing more neck for Jay to nip at.

      Jay found himself leaning into the warmth of Carlos' neck. He could feel Carlos laugh and he smirked into Carlos' skin. A familiar scent of sweat and cologne filled Jay's nostrils as he left a trail of wet kisses up Carlos' neck, a long his jaw, before meeting Carlos' lips again. Carlos' stomach was reeling and he hummed happily when Jay's lips were back on his.

       Carlos swiped at Jay's bottom lip before slipping his tongue in. Jay's breath hitched and without realizing it his hips grinded down hard onto Carlos'. Carlos gladly responded back by thrusting his hips up, and they both groaned out. It seemed at that moment they both froze, forehead against forehead, and realized what they were doing. Actually understood that they shouldn't be doing whatever the hell it was they were doing.

       Jay stared at Carlos, breathing heavily, wondering what the hell had just happened. After a moment of only heavy breathing Jay decided it would be best if he removed his hands from Carlos' side and got off of him. Jay slowly maneuvered himself from in between Carlos' legs.

      When they both got re-situated they smiled at each other weakly. Jay glanced down at the leather necklace he had in his hand. He had successfully swiped it back from Carlos, but he had forgotten about it mid-way into their make out session. Carlos gaped down at the leather in Jay's hands and Jay lifted his hand up, handing the necklace back to Carlos before smirking. " That was lesson one."

      Carlos gladly took the necklace back before he looked at Jay quizzically. " What? Make out with a person until you've stolen whatever it is you want?" Carlos was slightly hurt. He had actually enjoyed kissing Jay, but had Jay only gone a long with it so he could get his necklace back?

     " No," Jay stated as he made his way out of the bed, " Distract them until you've stolen whatever it is you want."

     Carlos tied the necklace back around his neck before asking again, " So, if I want to steal something from somebody, I'm going to have to kiss them to get it?" He had seen Jay do that a lot, and if that's how he had to do it, then why not. Carlos wasn't sure why he had a sudden interest in stealing. They had already promised they were going to be good. But it felt weird, being good all the time. He had to do something, had to feel something else. He was happier then he was on the Isle but he still had an empty pit in his stomach that needed filling. And being good, doing good, did not fill it.

     " No!" Jay quickly interjected, spinning around to look at Carlos. Jay did not want Carlos kissing anybody else, and he did not need to give the idea to Carlos that the only way to steal was to go around kissing everyone. " You just have to distract them. That can mean anything besides kissing. You flirt a little, make compliments, offer to carry things for them. You could flirt, C. You'd be real good at it." His lips curved into a smirk and Carlos sheepishly smiled back.

     " Okay," Carlos agreed, jumping up from his bed. He rushed over to his dresser and pulled a shirt out, quickly throwing it on. He danced around Jay before snatching his beanie again and placing it on his head. Jay lowered his eyes but didn't say anything.

    " I think the beanie will hide some of the scrapes on my forehead," Carlos spoke as he poked at his face in the mirror. He had forgotten he still looked like shit from the night before.

     Carlos was too busy looking at himself in the mirror that he didn't notice the way Jay tensed up or how he dug his nails into his palm. " We should go talk to Mal and Evie. Like now," He ground out and Carlos snapped his head over to gaze at him in confusion.

     " Okay. Why?" He stepped away from the mirror and towards Jay, who was settled in front of their door.

     " We need to tell them about current situations," Jay was vague in his answer and Carlos rolled his eyes.

     " What? The Chad thing? Don't tell them, Jay. They'll just make it worse," Carlos sighed as he looked at Jay with pleading eyes.

       " They're gonna find out sooner or later, so we might as well tell them. If they want to attack Chad again, that's their own problem," Jay threw on a leather vest and Carlos grabbed a pair of black gloves before following Jay out the door.

      Jay walked down the hallway quickly and Carlos stumbled several times to keep up with him. He fumbled for Jay's hand and latched onto it. Carlos was able to keep up, then, by Jay dragging him along.

    " We're going to get in trouble," Carlos huffed. He expected Jay to stop and rant at him, but Jay didn't do anything except walk faster.

     " Chad shouldn't have beat you up," He responded angrily. He didn't like the way people were looking at Carlos as they passed. Some of them were whispering to each other, and staring at Carlos for a little too long and Jay wanted to turn around and yell at all of them. He glanced at Carlos and was happy to know that he could still see his freckles under all the bruises.

     "129, by the way," Jay remembered suddenly as they reached the girl's wing of the dormitories.

      " What?" Carlos questioned, ignoring the stares he was getting. He didn't look that beat up, did he?  
   

       " You have 129 freckles on your face," Jay responded nonchalantly .

       Carlos laughed and stared at Jay incredulously. " You actually counted?"

       " Hell yeah," Jay stated proudly as he smiled over at Carlos. They had finally reached the hallway leading to Mal and Evie's room, and somehow Jay had started walking even faster.

         Carlos shook his head as Jay pounded on the door to Mal and Evie's room. " You're an idiot."

           Jay smiled at Carlos, " Yeah, well." He pounded on the door again and shouted, " Open the door! We have some fucking major news!" Carlos was going to help Jay knock on the door before it was suddenly whipped open and Mal appeared looking annoyed and disgruntled. It took her a moment before her eyes were going wide as she took in Carlos' appearance.

       " What the hell!" She exclaimed as Jay and Carlos shoved their way into the room. Evie made her way off her own bed when she heard Mal's exclamation. Evie eyed the two boys quizzically before she noticed the blue and purple marks on Carlos' face.

       " Oh my god!" She shouted as she quickly ran up to Carlos to further examine him. " Are you okay?" Her fingers traced around the edges of the bruises before she looked at Jay, hoping for an answer.

      " I'm alright," Carlos shrugged. He smiled weakly as he let Evie hug him. She pulled back and examined his face again.

        Mal watched the exchange for as long as she could but lost patience when no one had explained why Carlos looked like he did. " Who the hell did that to him?" She tried not to yell, but she couldn't help it. Anytime one of their own got hurt, it was a blow to the whole group. Carlos was like her brother, he was her brother, and whoever had done that to his face was seriously going to pay. She laughed out loud at the thought and spoke, " Whoever it was, we're gonna fucking kill them."

        Carlos flinched at her threat, knowing how serious she was. Once back on the Isle, a couple months before they had been invited to Auradon, some guys beat up Carlos to steal the furs he was carrying for his mother. It had been stupid of him to carry them out in the public eye, and he had tried to hide that he had been beaten. But then Jay saw the bruises, saw the way Carlos flinched when he tried to give him a side hug or clap him on the shoulder. So then Jay told Mal, and Mal told Evie and then they all demanded that Carlos told them what happened. He had to tell them everything, then. And they were livid. Carlos had accidentally let two names slip and the three of them were gone in a blink of an eye. He could do nothing but wait. They returned to his house several hours later. Jay had bloody knuckles as did Mal. Evie was grinning proudly and they all told him they didn't have to worry about the guys anymore.

          Carlos found out a couple days later that two out of three guys who had beat him up disappeared. No one knew quite where they went. They were just gone. Of course, no one on the Isle cared. Sadly, a lot of people disappeared all the time. But Carlos knew, at least he thought he knew. But he never asked what they did. He didn't want to know. So he was scared when Mal made that threat. He wasn't sure how serious she actually was.

      Carlos nervously glanced at Jay, hoping he wouldn't tell her who had done it. But he knew she was going to find out eventually. They were all spiraling down into a black hole and it was going to be hard to pull themselves out of it.

         " It was Chad," Jay answered her and Mal's eyes lit up with range. Evie lightly gasped before muttering something under her breath.

         " I should've known," Mal laughed angrily, " He's an idiot. Did he forget that we have magic? That we know how to use it, and we will use it on him?" Mal was ranting and Carlos watched as Evie nodded her head at everything Mal was saying.

       " But we're not allowed to use it," Carlos mumbled. Jay reached for his hand and he gladly took it. The two girls looked at him as they both folded their arms over their chests.

       " So?" Evie said.

       " I don't give a shit!" Mal responded louder. She didn't give a shit about anything at that point. Chad had beaten up Carlos. And anytime anyone of them got beaten, picked on, or anything even minor, they always plotted revenge. It was their nature. It was the one thing that had stayed with them. Sure she had chosen good, and she definitely did not want to be like her mother, but she was being vengeful for the right reasons. Wasn't she? Chad had beaten up her best friend; mocked her best friend. Casting some spells on Chad wasn't on the evil scale, they were only doing what was fair. At least, that's how she looked at it.

     " I already beat him up," Jay piped in. Mal and Evie smiled widely at him. Carlos' stomach dropped even further. He was really happy that his friends cared for him so much, but he didn't think they realized how much trouble they could get in. That if anyone found out that they were temporarily reverting back to their villain ways, they could be shipped back to the Isle.

       " Guys, please think about this!" Carlos pleaded. " You can't just make him disappear like you guys did back on the Isle. No one cared there, but they will care here. You can't do anything stupid," Carlos watched as Mal furrowed her brow and Evie sighed dramatically.

       " Sure we can!" Jay gritted out. Carlos turned to glare at him before looking back at Mal.

        " No, he's right. Whatever we do this time has to be..." She paused a moment, sharing a look with Jay, " temporary.."

          " Yeah, which means we can use magic on him. We can beat him up some we just can't..," Evie paused a moment, thinking of the right thing to say," make him disappear." She pointedly looked at Jay and Mal before smiling over at Carlos.

           Carlos sighed before mumbling," Yeah fine. Whatever." He knew his friends had to do something to Chad, but he wished they didn't. He seemed to be the only one who realized how much trouble they were all going to get in. He knew that somehow everything was going to get twisted and their villain titles would fall on their heads again to be used  against them.

         " Great!" Evie squealed as she clasped her hands together  before rushing over to her bed. Mal mimicked her, going to grab her spell book, which she had hidden in between the bed frame and the mattress.

       Mal smiled at the two boys  as she went to walk out the door, " You two have a fabulous day. Me and Evie here have some revenge to do." She laughed  as she dashed out the door, Evie on her heels.

      Chad was going to have a very bad day.

***

      " You just want to stay in the room today?" Jay asked as him and Carlos walked around the pavement, hand-in-hand. He generally wouldn't ask that question, but people were constantly staring at Carlos and some had even come up to question him and he would have to lie and brush them off. So Jay thought that Carlos  might want to be secluded from the public eye.

       " Nah," Carlos shook his head, " I like being outside."

      It was cloudy, but there was still a good amount of people out. They had passed a group of people playing soccer, and another group of people sitting in a circle, talking. The outdoors were a lot nicer in Auradon then on the Isle. There were only a few trees here and  there on the Isle, but in Auradon there were trees everywhere and Carlos had never seen so many colorful flowers in his life. And there were birds. Birds singing and chirping happily. There were no birds on the Isle.

           " Okay," Jay answered, slightly surprised that Carlos didn't mind all the stares. " Can we at least sit down?" Because he was tired. They had walked around the sidewalk about five times and Carlos didn't want to go anywhere else. They had passed a bench about every two minutes and it pained Jay to walk past it each time.

         " Sure." Carlos let go of Jay's hand and dashed over to a stone bench and plopped down. Jay rushed over to it and sighed happily.

          Carlos reached for Jay's hand and they playfully hit their legs together. Jay sighed as he leaned back, happy to finally be relaxing. Carlos was content in watching the birds jump on the grass and memorizing every type of flower he saw.

         " What do you think Mal and Evie are doing?" Jay questioned, and he hoped they were doing something really evil to Chad.

         " I don't want to know," Carlos grumbled. He really didn't. He was hoping Jay wouldn't bring it up, but he did. Jay always had a habit of talking about things that Carlos didn't want to talk about.

        While Carlos was scanning for more flowers, his eyes landed on Ben. He scanned him and he spotted a gold ring on his right hand. Carlos' eyebrow perked up and he sat straighter, gaining Jay's attention. Carlos had been spotting for little things to steal all day, and now he had finally found something. It might be a little stupid because Ben was King and everything, but he's  friends with him, so wouldn't that only make it easier to steal it?

       " What?" Jay raised his brow as he looked at Carlos and then to what Carlos was looking at. He was confused as to why Carlos was looking at Ben.

     " I'll be right back," Carlos said hurriedly as he stood up, ripping his hand from Jay's.

       " What!" Jay shouted, still confused.

        " His ring," Was all Carlos mumbled before he dashed off towards Ben. Jay slumped down in confusion as he watched Carlos rush up to Ben. He searched Ben's form, and when he spotted the ring he understood what Carlos meant. He wanted to get his ring. Jay couldn't help but snort and shake his head as he watched Carlos talk to Ben.

      " Hey Ben!" Carlos halted in front of Ben and smiled widely.

      " Hey Carlos," Ben smiled but it faltered slightly when he noticed the bruise on Carlos' cheek. " Are you-" He pointed and Carlos responded by smiling.

        " Oh, that? Yeah, it's nothing," Carlos smiled as he stepped a little closer to Ben.

          Ben stared at it for a second longer before speaking, " Alright. Whatcha need?" He noticed the way Carlos stepped closer to him, but found himself not minding much.

           Jay watched the exchange for what seemed like an hour. At first it didn't seem like Carlos was getting anywhere, but then Jay noticed the way Carlos started moving closer to Ben, and how Ben didn't move back. He sat up straighter, thinking maybe Carlos would come out successful. Jay wasn't sure what happened, but things seemed to escalate quickly. One second Ben was pointing to something on Carlos' face and the next Carlos was leaning up and whispering something in Ben's ear as his hand grasped at Ben's arm. Jay found himself clenching his jaw and forcing himself to stay seated as he watched Carlos pull back and Ben smile at Carlos, their faces still too close for comfort. He didn't like the way Carlos pulled his hand away and then Ben pulled it back. He noted how Carlos grinned widely at him and Ben laughed at something Carlos said. Once Jay saw Ben's hand trailing along Carlos' arm he had had enough and stood up, quickly making his way over to the two.

         " Hey Ben," He tried not to snarl as he placed his arm around Carlos' back.

         " Hey, Jay," Ben responded startled at the sudden intrusion. Ben seemed to back off slightly and Jay smirked triumphantly.

         " Hey Babe," Jay smiled over at Carlos before placing a small kiss under his ear. He looked at Ben and didn't realize he had sent the dude a hard glare. " We gotta go."

    " Alright. Uh, see you later Carlos," Ben said as he backed further away.

    Jay pulled Carlos away from Ben slightly before he faced him completely. He glanced back to make sure Ben could still see them.

      " What-" Carlos asked before his body was pulled forward and Jay's lips were on his. Carlos wasn't sure what Jay was doing but he went with it, pulling the boy closer and entangling his hands in his hair. Jay smirked against Carlos' mouth before swiping and then biting down on Carlos' bottom lip. Carlos yelped out and Jay took the opportunity to slide his tongue in. Carlos could taste blood and his lip was stinging, almost positive Jay had rubbed too hard against the cut on his lip. His heart was beating out of his chest and was suddenly reminded of their kiss all those hours ago.

      Jay pulled back for a breath before he placed one more chaste kiss on Carlos' mouth. Carlos smiled as Jay placed his forehead on his, both breathing heavily.  Jay was happy to know that Ben had seen everything. He knew that Carlos was off limits, and he hoped to god that he wouldn't get all touchy like that again with Carlos. He was jealous, he knew he was. ( Which scared him. It scared him a lot).

       " What was that for?" Carlos breathed as he grasped onto Jay's upper arm.

        " Ben was flirting with you," Jay murmured, still trying to catch his breath.

          Carlos lips tugged upwards. " So you were jealous, huh?" Carlos' stomach did twists at the thought, and it made him so happy that he had forgotten all about the ring he had stolen.

           Jay froze, because Carlos couldn't know. They couldn't share feelings, not ever. " Yeah, I had to play the part right?" He hoped it was convincing enough for Carlos,  because it wasn't convincing enough for himself.

       Carlos smirked as he pulled away, " Right," He looked at Jay before moving behind him. " Alright, carry me." He place his hands on Jay's shoulders and Jay grumbled as Carlos jumped up and wrapped his legs around Jay's torso.

      " Where to?" Jay questioned as Carlos settled his head atop his.

      " I think it's lunchtime," He pointed toward the direction of the cafeteria and Jay muttered something before heading towards it.

      " I got the ring by the way," Carlos spoke happily. He was shocked that he had actually gotten it. He hoped Jay was proud of him, too.

     " Seriously?" Jay asked flabbergasted. He really had thought Carlos would've failed or gotten caught by Ben. " Carlos that's awesome!" He laughed and Carlos laughed back. " What are you going to do with it?"

       Carlos thought a moment, wondering what _was_ he going to do with it? He couldn't really wear it, since it belonged to King Ben. Everyone would notice it. " I'll probably give it back."

          Jay grunted as he readjusted Carlos' legs before asking, " What? Why?"

          Carlos shrugged even though Jay couldn't see him. " I don't really have a need for it. I just wanted to see if I could steal something from somebody else besides you."

      " Alright, alright," Jay found himself laughing. " I guess it's time to go talk to Mal and Evie."

***

     Carlos ducked his head down and hurried over to their table, hoping no one would see him. He had sent Jay in the food line by himself, and Jay had offered to get Carlos' food too, so none of the adults would question why Carlos looked the way he did. Carlos gladly accepted the offer. He only had to wait a few minutes before Jay, Mal and Evie were hustling over to the table, and a plate of two sandwiches was being placed in front of him.

       " Thanks," He smiled over at Jay as he picked the sandwich up and took a bite of it. Mal and Evie glanced at each other before looking at Carlos.

       Carlos slowly stopped chewing his food when he realized the two people staring at him. " What..?" He asked slowly as he looked between the two of them.

        " Don't you want to know what we did?" Evie asked as she frowned slightly. She thought her and Mal did a great job and she thought Carlos deserved to know what went down.

        " No, not really," Carlos responded annoyed as he continued to eat his food.

      " I do!" Jay smirked at Carlos before looking at Mal and Evie. Carlos rolled his eyes as she he shoved Jay's arm.

        " They can tell you later,' Carlos spat, not understanding why Jay didn't realize he didn't want to know anything that was being done to Chad.

        Jay pressed his lips together as he looked at Mal, eyes wide. " You can tell me later."

        Mal rolled her eyes as she stared intently at Carlos. " Fine."

           They ate almost in complete silence. The only thing Mal and Evie wanted to talk about was Chad, and they quickly realized every time they mentioned it, Carlos would start yelling louder at them. Jay wasn't sure what to say, because Carlos snapped at him almost every time he spoke. So they all decided to stay quiet. Which of course only annoyed Carlos more.

        " Oh my god! Somebody say something!" He yelled, not being able to take the silence any longer.

        " Holy shit, make up your mind," Mal grumbled at the annoying teenager.

           Jay bit his lip, still not sure what to say. " Uh.." He began and Carlos snapped his head over to look at him. " You should start wearing one of my sweatshirts." He mentally face palmed himself, because what the hell? What a great thing to say.

           Carlos lowered his eyes, as did Mal and Evie. " What?"

          Jay coughed and tried to not sound panicked, " Like since it's getting colder and everything, you should. It'd make it more convincing, right?" He looked at Mal for help but she simply shook her head and tried not to laugh.

         " Yeah, I guess that's a good idea," Carlos shook his head and then smiled.

        " Cool.." Jay muttered, " Cool."

**

      Carlos had left lunch early and asked Jay to  meet him later in the room. Jay had insisted on coming with him but Carlos stated he just wanted some alone time. The three of them had looked at each other oddly after he had left, wondering if something was wrong. It was almost the end of lunch when Jay suddenly stood up, causing Mal and Evie to lift their heads in confusion.

       "I'm going to go make sure he's okay," Jay stated once he saw the confusion on Mal and Evie's faces. They both nodded in understanding as he turned around and made his way out of the cafeteria.

        He was sure Carlos was fine, but he didn't want something to be wrong and not have checked up on him. He found himself walking quite quickly towards their room, wanting to talk to him immediately. He was practically running down the hallway when an unknown voice shouted his name.

       He whipped around and searched for the person who had shouted his name. Down the hall he noticed a guy, about the same age as he, with black hair walking towards him. " Yeah?" Jay asked skeptically, not knowing who the guy was.

      " You know Carlos right?" The guy spoke and Jay tensed, immediately in defense mode.

       " Why?" He stood straighter and locked eyes with the guy.

       " Well," The guy smiled and Jay lowered his eyes. " Chad wanted me to tell you that we beat him up pretty good. Carlos. It's just too bad we couldn't do anymore damage," The guy hadn't even finished his sentence before Jay was latching onto his collar and slamming him up against the wall. The guy laughed and Jay responded by punching him in the face. The guy groaned out in pain and Jay couldn't stop himself as his fists slammed repeatedly into the guy's body.

        " Well tell Chad we're gonna kill him," Jay growled as he punched the guy once more before turning around and storming off down the hallway, leaving the guy bloodied up in the middle of the floor.

****

      Carlos had just thrown on one of Jay's t-shirts when the door was suddenly thrown open and Jay stomped in. He was breathing heavily, and Carlos  noticed specks of blood on his clenched fists.  

   " I fucking hate Chad, I'm going to kill him, C. I'm going to literally kill him!" He shouted as the door was slammed shut and Carlos thought he should've flinched at the threat but he wasn't too focused on the things Jay was saying. He was too busy watching the way Jay was breathing, how he was threatening people for _him._ Carlos could see the way Jay's neck glistened with sweat and his hair was messed up slightly. Carlos had decided he looked really fucking hot.

       " You know, you look really fucking hot when you're mad," Carlos found himself stating loudly. And _shit_ he had not meant for that thought to leave his mouth. Jay froze before he looked Carlos up and down, then quickly stepped forward in front of him. Jay wasn't sure what to do, except get as close as possible to Carlos.

       " Do I?" Jay's voice was rough and he moved closer to Carlos. Carlos licked his lips before nodding his head quickly.

     " Well," Jay started, lowering his voice some more. He raked along Carlos' body with his eyes, noting Carlos was wearing his shirt and his beanie. " you look really fucking hot when you're wearing my clothes." Jay stared at Carlos intently as he moved closer.

        Carlos sucked in a breath and managed a quick " _Fuck,"_  before they both latched onto each other and were kissing one another desperately. All their kisses had been needy, but this one was the neediest out of them all. Carlos was grasping at every part of Jay's upper body, trying to pull him closer. While Jay sucked on Carlos' bottom lip he gently pushed him back towards the wall. The hands that were on Carlos' neck and hair quickly found their way to his thighs. Jay squeezed them hard, and Carlos groaned into Jay's mouth. Jay then pulled at them, hoisting Carlos up. Carlos happily complied as he jumped and wrapped his legs around Jay's waist.

         Jay moved Carlos back completely, his back placed firmly against the wall. The kiss was sloppy, with teeth clanking together and nose bumps here and there, but both of them loved it that way. Jay started trailing kisses from Carlos' mouth down his jaw and neck. He kept sucking and licking trying to find Carlos' soft spot. When Carlos whimpered out and ground down onto Jay, he smirked against Carlos' skin and sucked and nipped at the spot, intent on leaving a mark.

         Carlos' hands found a spot under Jay's shirt and when Jay bit down hard on the perfect spot on his neck, he found himself groaning before tugging at the hem of Jay's shirt and growling, " _Off._ "  

         Jay smirked as he stopped kissing Carlos long enough for Carlos to pull his shirt off. Once it was discarded onto the floor Jay happily went back to nipping at Carlos' soft skin under his ear. Carlos tilted his head, exposing more skin for Jay. Carlos let his hands scrape against Jay's back and trace over the muscle on his stomach.

          Impatiently, Carlos tugged on Jay's jaw and forcefully directed his mouth back to his own. Carlos bit down on Jay's lip before sucking on it, and Jay made a surprised noise in the back of his throat. Jay tightened his hold on Carlos' thighs and pushed himself closer to Carlos' body, wanting as much contact as possible. Carlos broke away and Jay was going to follow his mouth back, but before he could Carlos was sucking on Jay's neck. Jay bit his lip as he held in a groan and rolled his hips forward. Carlos gladly responded, and suddenly they were both rocking against each other, whimpers and groans escaping their mouths. Jay carried them away from the wall so he could grasp Carlos' back and take his shirt off, too.

    Suddenly they were on someone's bed and Carlos was laughing and groaning as Jay left a trail of kisses down his neck to his stomach. Jay rolled his hips down onto Carlos, not getting enough friction and Carlos wrapped one leg around Jay's back. Jay pulled away and looked up at Carlos. They both stared at each other, breathing heavily.

     " We should stop," Carlos muttered, though he rolled his hips up and Jay closed his eyes as he groaned.

     " Yeah," Jay breathed. Even though he wanted to go back and leave several more marks on Carlos' neck, he decided that they probably should stop. Reluctantly Jay removed himself from atop Carlos, causing them to accidentally rub against each other, making them both whimper out again. Jay rolled over and laid next to Carlos, who was staring intently at him.

         Carlos knew they were both fucked. They shouldn't have done that, but they did. And they would probably do it again. Their arrangement was no longer fake. And that freaked him the fuck out.

        Jay was trying to control his breathing as he admired the small purple marks that were forming on Carlos' neck. He smirked proudly, knowing people were going to see the marks. People would totally buy the whole dating thing, then. Jay was too caught up in looking at all the love marks on Carlos, he didn't realize he had spoken to him.

      " 13," Carlos spoke as he shuffled closer to Jay, placing his head next to Jay's chest.

      " What?" Jay blinked his eyes and glanced down at the boy who was snuggled in his bare chest.

       "13," Carlos said again, though it was muffled against Jay's chest. " _You_ have 13 freckles."

       Jay laughed as he wrapped his arm around Carlos' back, pulling him closer. " Wow, thanks."

       " My freckles beat your freckles," Carlos laugh went through Jay's body, and Jay couldn't help but laugh back at his silly remark.

        " You're stupid."

       " You're stupider."

        " Go to sleep."  Jay mumbled.

        " You first," Carlos retorted.

         Jay smiled one last time as he closed his eyes, the perfect boy lying in his arms.

_You **don't** love him. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this ended up being a lot longer than expected...Hope you liked it though!


	7. He Did It

        Mal was angry and Carlos wouldn't let her do anything about it. It wasn't fair, she just wanted to get even with Chad, maybe even more so, but that was normal for her and for the rest of the group. Carlos had always been fine when the three of them stuck up for him back at the Isle, but now he wanted nothing to do with it and that really pissed her off. And she only felt worse when she gazed at the bruises on Carlos' face for too long.

       Chad hadn't shown up to school for the day, and everyone was highly relieved. No one questioned where he was, and that was even better. Carlos knew whatever Jay, Mal, and Evie had done to Chad wouldn't heal over night, but he was at least out of trouble for one day. But he was still terrified, and he seemed to be the only one.

        Mal and Evie stalked into Carlos' and Jay's room with grins plastered on their faces and Carlos wanted to do nothing but smack them right off. How could they be so calm about the whole situation?

      " Well," Mal began but stopped upon seeing the tiny purple marks littering the side of Carlos' neck. Her eyes went wide before she smirked over at Evie. " Oh shit," Mal laughed causing Carlos to lower his eyes in confusion.

       "What?" Carlos asked, looking between the two girls. They were giggling like idiots while staring at him, and he suddenly felt self-conscious.

        " You have a little something," Evie motioned towards her neck, " in this whole area." She laughed again as Carlos' hands flew up to his neck, still wondering what she meant. He could feel Jay tense next to him, and he suddenly remembered. His face immediately turned crimson red and he quickly tugged at his collar, hoping to hide the marks.

        " Well there's no use in hiding them now," Mal muttered, amused with the flustered boy.

        Jay watched as Carlos continued to tug at his collar and he tried to avoid eye contact with both Mal and Evie. Leaving marks on Carlos had seemed like a great idea at the time, but now he was beginning to seriously regret it. He hadn't even thought what Mal and Evie would assume from the situation.

         " Okay," Carlos muttered, not liking the situation one bit. " You obviously came in here for a reason, what is it?" He scowled over at Mal and she scowled back, crossing her arms while leaning onto her left leg.

       " We just wanted to know if you guys have heard anything from or about Chad?" She continued to glare at Carlos, who was gladly returning it.

        " No," Carlos ground out, angry at the mention of Chad again. That's all their conversations had been centered around for the past 48 hours and he was getting really tired of it. Jay glanced down at Carlos, mustering up his best concerned look. He lightly shook Carlos' arm, trying to tell him to chill out a bit. Carlos stared at Jay for a moment before lightly rolling his eyes and looking back at Mal and Evie.

      " No," Jay repeated for Carlos, " Why?"

     " Just wanted to make sure he hadn't gotten us into trouble yet or anything. I'm not in the mood for that today," Mal answered followed by a roll of her eyes.

     " Mood?" Carlos scoffed, " You're not in the mood? You're the one who brought this on. We're going to get in trouble, Mal. So deal with it."

    " Why are you mad?" Evie interjected. Carlos hardly got angry, and it was never towards his friends. They had just been trying to help him, so why was he snapping at them?

     " Because I had it dealt with," Jay scoffed at the statement causing Carlos to jab him hard in the side. " Well Jay and I did. I knew we would probably get in trouble for whatever Jay did, but it wouldn't be too bad. But then you guys had to go and use magic to do something everyone else would consider evil," Carlos' voice was rising, and Mal was stepping closer, anger clear on her face.

      " We can't get in trouble!" Mal interrupted Carlos, " It was self-defense!"

      " Maybe to us! But for them it was self-defense when I punched Chad back. It stopped being self-defense the moment Jay went and beat Chad up in the middle of the night." Jay immediately straightened up and scoffed over at Carlos.

     " You're the one who begged me to!" Jay threw his hands up in the air, confused and slightly angry with Carlos' attitude.

    Carlos was stunned for a moment, not sure what to say. " Yeah, I did, and that was stupid of me," Carlos finally decided to say, " I'm sorry for getting mad at you guys. I know you were just protecting me, but guys, we will get in trouble. It's stupid to think we won't. And when we do get in trouble we're going to land in some really deep shit," Carlos' voice began to lower, and he went from looking angry to defeated. And tired, really really tired.

       " We don't care," Evie piped in," We don't care if we get in trouble. Who cares?"

        This statement seemed to piss off Carlos the most, because he immediately clenched his fists and screamed, " I care!" The three teenagers flinched noticeably; Carlos' voice echoing off the walls and the way his whole body shook of anger, surprising them.

         Jay didn't like looking at Carlos at that moment. He was shaking and his hands were clenched, and he had actually screamed. Carlos had never screamed at them like that before.  None of them knew how to handle him, and it scared them.

        "I'm so-" Evie began, feeling bad immediately, but was cut off with angry words from Carlos.

         " You are all fucking idiots!" Carlos shouted, pushing away Jay's arm that was resting on his shoulder.

        " Carlos!" Jay and Mal shouted incredulously. What was his problem?

         Jay tried to step forward and grasp Carlos' shoulder again but he was rudely shoved away. They watched as Carlos paced around the room, none of them really sure on what to say, or do.

      "  I can't go back to the Isle! Okay? I did some things before we left that got me in trouble with my mom, and she's literally going to kill me if I go back. I have enough scars on my body, I don't need more! I am done getting them. I'm tired of being fucking tortured day in and day out!" Jay flinched as Carlos continued to scream. He hated to remember what Carlos' 'mom' used to do to him. " Can you guys think about anyone else besides yourselves? Okay fine, you don't care if we get sent back, but I care. I'd choose this prejudice hell hole over my mother's cruel words and beatings, any day."

        Evie was close to breaking down. She had never argued with Carlos before, at least not to this extent. It had been selfish of her to think that just because the Isle wasn't too bad for her, it hadn't been bad for anyone else. A long the way she forgotten about the things Carlos' mother had done to him; what his daily life had consisted of.

       " Carlos-" Jay stepped forward, reaching out for him. Carlos closed his eyes and flinched back, not wanting to be comforted. He didn't need their pity. He just wanted them to stop being fucking selfish idiots and think clearly for once.

      " Don't try to make us the bad guys," Mal snapped softly. She ignored the glare Jay sent her way. They had just been trying to help him.

       Carlos glared hard at Mal, clenching his jaw. " I'm not, just," He sighed angrily, pulling at his hair before rushing over to the door. " Just figure this out." He didn't wait for a response as he whipped the door open and stomped down the hallway.

     The three of them stood in shocked silence, flabbergasted from Carlos' dramatic rant.

       Mal broke the silence by stating loudly, " What. The. _Fuck."_

 ***

     Carlos wasn't sure where he was going, but he knew he needed to get away from them.  He knew they were only trying to help, and it wasn't completely fair for him to explode on them like he did, but he just couldn't help it. The worry of being sent back to his mother was constantly eating at him, and the only people he had to take it out on were his friends. So he had to get away from them before he caused anymore damage.

     And what made him angry was that he _always_ did this. Anytime something happened to him and his friends tried to help, he wouldn't say thank you (he never said thank you) he would explode on them. He would blame them for anything he could, he would try to take all his feelings and emotions and shove them onto them, because it was only fair for them to feel like he did. He wanted to make sure they felt like shit too. And the worst part was, that's exactly what his mother did. And he wasn't going to be his mother. ( But he found himself being more and more like her every day).

      His body seemed to be moving, but he wasn't thinking about where he was going. He was like a robot, turning left, right, left again. He would've continued going straight, but a body blocked his way and he slammed into it, an "oomph" emitting from both bodies.

     " Sorry," He managed to say to...Jane. Great, it was Jane. His eyes went wide as he took a step  back from her.

     " Oh, it's fine," She smiled lightly. Carlos went to leave but Jane quickly stated, " Hold on! Please, I really need to talk to you."

       If it had been any other day Carlos probably would've shouted something rude at her before scrambling away, but for some reason, he decided to stay and hear what she had to say. Maybe he just wanted someone else besides his usual friends to talk to. Whatever the reason, he forced a smile onto his freckled and bruised face, responding, " Sure. Whatcha need?"

        Jane seemed shocked momentarily. She had fully expected for him to spat something at her before walking off. She figured she would have to hold him down, kicking and screaming, to tell him what she needed to say.

        " I just wanted to say I'm sorry," She smiled nervously, awaiting his response. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she rocked back onto her heels.

         Carlos blinked several times, gaping at the girl standing in front of him. " Come again?" He had never in a million years expected her to say sorry. He had been prepared for another rant on why he should totally date her.

        " I'm sorry. Last week I realized what a complete lunatic I was being. It wasn't right of me to call you a liar, or to constantly basically beg for you to date me. I understand now that you will never date me. I am so sorry, and I would really like to be friends. I tried to tell you earlier but you yelled at me," She spoke in one breath, and Carlos was slightly afraid that she might talk too long in one breath and pass out in front of his feet.

         It took Carlos a couple seconds to fully comprehend what she had just told him. " Wow. Okay, yeah. Totally, I forgive you. Yeah, you were basically making my life hell, but I get it, I guess.  And I'm sorry for yelling at you. Sometimes I have a bit of an anger issue," Carlos rubbed at the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact with Jane at all costs.

        If Jane was no longer pining after him, then that would mean him and Jay wouldn't need to fake date anymore, wouldn't it? So he quickly decided, he would avoid telling Jay for as long as he could. ( Because in a way, he kinda liked the attention and affection he was getting from Jay).

       "Really? Thank you!" She squealed as she jumped up in joy, and Carlos couldn't retain from wincing from the sharpness of her voice. " Also, just to further my apology, I want to give you this," She put her hand out and Carlos gazed at it curiously. " It's not a bribe or anything. It's just something I do when I feel I've wronged somebody. You don't have to wear it.  I just saw it and thought it kinda seemed like you, and I needed a gift to go a long with your apology, so here."

      Jane's hand was holding out a necklace. It was a black leather chain and it had a white moon pendant hanging from it. Carlos gingerly took it from her palm and lifted it up to his face so he could fully examine it.

     " It glows, too," She chimed in as Carlos ran his fingers along the white charm.

      " Awesome!" Carlos exclaimed, a real smile creeping onto his face. He wound his fingers around the leather and undid the clasp, quickly placing the necklace around his neck.

      " You're going to wear it?" Jane asked hopeful, and surprised. She had expected  him to take the gift and then find it in the trash can the next day.

      " Hell yeah!" Carlos exclaimed as he adjusted the pendant so it laid in the center of his neck. " I haven't gotten many gifts before," He admitted as he placed his hands back to his sides. " So this kinda means a lot to me. Thanks," He smiled, happy to forget about everything that had been happening and be able to smile and breathe for once.

       " You're so welcome," Jane laughed softly before pausing and looking around Carlos. " Where's Jay?" She hadn't meant to be nosy, but for the past two weeks the two of them seemed inseparable, and it was odd to see Carlos without Jay. 

        Carlos seemed to tense before speaking in what seemed like fake nonchalance, " Oh. We had a little fight," Carlos wasn't sure why he told her that. And it wasn't really a fight, so he wasn't sure why he called it that. But he didn't really know what else to call it, either. Plus, he wasn't all that mad at Jay,  he just needed to clear his head and get away from him before he said something stupid.

         " Oh," Jane deadpanned, thrown off guard, and not sure exactly what to say. All she managed to say, which was pretty dumb in her opinion was, " Was it a bad one?" She could see the lining of blue around Carlos' eye and near the bottom of his jaw, and so she couldn't help but assume. But surely not, Jay wasn't that type of person.  But, she just had to be sure, but she wasn't going to outright ask if Jay had done that to his face.

         Carlos couldn't help but laugh loudly, which caused Jane to frown in confusion. " Nah," Carlos laughed again, " I just needed to clear my head. Get away from the mess." Jane backed up slightly from the statement, afraid that she had intruded on his alone time, but also glad Carlos didn't seem freaked out over the mention of Jay. So the bruises weren't from Jay, then.

        "Oh!" She exclaimed in sudden realization. " Do you want to be left alone? Because I totally ge-"

          Carlos was quick to cut her off, throwing out his hands violently, showing that he didn't mind. " No, no! You're fine! It's nice to talk to someone else for once." He wasn't sure why he was basically begging for her to stay. He still hated her a little bit, but she had apologized, and she was trying to be friends. And he really (really) needed friends. She might be a little psycho, but she seemed nice enough, even if she had tried to attack him  numerous times. You could say he was desperate. Very very desperate for some friends.

       " Yeah, I don't have many friends, either," She spoke, somehow understanding how Carlos was feeling. " I was headed to go get some snacks from the cafeteria, if you want to come?" She pointed behind her and Carlos thought a moment. It wasn't like he had anything else to do.

       He rocked back onto his heels and shrugged his shoulders. " Sure, I could go for some cookies right now."

     " Same," Jane laughed as she began walking, Carlos quickly moving up to her side.

      Jane looked over at Carlos before looking straight again. " So you and Jay, huh?" She playfully nudged his side with her elbow, taking note of the little purple marks she could see peeking out from his black collar.

      " Yeah. Me and Jay." Carlos couldn't help but let a light smile form onto his lips.

         Because, yeah. Him and Jay.

         50% fake. 50% real. What else could you ask for, right?

**

        " Do you think one of us should go look for him?" Evie frowned as she gazed over at the door. Carlos had only been gone for twenty minutes max, but it felt like an hour to Evie. What if he went and did something stupid?

         Jay bit at his cheek as he gazed out the window. He took a moment to respond, making sure to sigh loudly. " No, we'd only piss him off more," He turned around to look at Evie for a moment before looking back out the window.

         " And we wouldn't want that," Mal ground out sarcastically, re-situating herself on Carlos' bed. Jay didn't have to look at her to know she had rolled her eyes.

           " No, we wouldn't," Jay responded harshly, shooting Mal a hard glare. The moment Carlos had left the room Mal had done nothing but complain, and he was getting really tired of it.

          " We didn't even do anything wrong," Mal muttered for the fifteenth time.

          " I know, but we all know how he gets," Evie replied while fixing her hair in the mirror. " We just have to let him cool off. After that we can figure a plan out."

           The bed made a squeaking noise as Mal hopped up from it. She threw the blanket behind her and brushed down her shirt. " Well I'm going to go try to fix this now, anyone else?" She looked pointedly at Evie, raising her eyebrow.

           Jay and Evie looked at each other, trying to decide what they'd do based on the other. " I guess I'll go," Evie shrugged her shoulders and Mal motioned towards Jay, asking for his answer.

         " Uh, I'll catch up with you guys later," Jay smiled lightly, backing away from the window to face Mal and Evie fully. He wanted to figure out how to keep all of them out of trouble, but he knew it would probably be useless in the long run. Carlos was right. It was dumb to think they weren't going to get in trouble.

         " You sure?" Evie questioned while Mal had already started for the door.

          " Yeah," Was Jay's blunt response. Evie nodded, realizing he wanted to be alone. She gave a slight wave and then followed Mal out the door, being careful to shut it quietly.

             When the door shut Jay allowed his shoulders to sag and he carried himself slowly to his bed. He collapsed onto it with a loud sigh and threw his hands behind his head. He grabbed at his beanie, which Carlos had rudely thrown back at him before he had stomped out of their room, and pulled it over his eyes, blocking out the sun that was pouring through the window.

            Jay's head was a mess. He was angry, he was mad, and he was confused. First off, he had no clue what his feelings were for Carlos, or what Carlos' feelings were for him. There was obviously something, but neither of them wanted to talk about it. ( Or maybe they did want to talk about it, but they couldn't; wouldn't). And now they might get in so much trouble that they get sent back to their parents, and if that happened, if Cruella had Carlos in her grasp again, he could never forgive himself.

         And Mal. Mal could be such a bitch sometimes, and he knew it was only because she was worried too, but she just made everything worse. Her and Carlos had always been the ones to pick fights, the ones who in some way or another _loved_ to argue. So when the two got at it together, it never ended well. Mal always had to up Carlos' game, and Carlos always fell for it. But this time he didn't, instead deciding on stopping mid argument and leaving abruptly. Of course, this only made Mal angrier. He didn't understand why Mal couldn't do something for Carlos without fucking things up, or why Carlos couldn't go one moment without blaming someone else when he was the one at fault.

         He was angry at Mal. He was angry at Carlos. He was angry at himself.

         And he really hoped they weren't going to get sent back. Because if they were, he would make sure all hell would break loose, and he didn't want to have to do that.

*** 

        Carlos had a surprisingly good time with Jane. He wasn't exactly sure how much he should trust or like her, but he did find her tolerable enough. Somehow they both had managed to get in discussion over random things and ended up hanging out for three hours. It was weird. But it was kinda nice. It had been three wonderful carefree hours, where he didn't have one worry in the world. But then he looked at the clock and all his worries seemed to fill his head again. It was seven and he knew Jay or Evie, or hell, maybe even Mal would be wondering where he was, and it wouldn't be fair for him to hide from them forever. So he grudgingly told Jane goodbye and headed to go find his friends.

        One thing he was going to do, even if they couldn't, was apologize. He had spent half of the four hours he had been gone going over and over again  the things he had said and done to his friends, and he slowly realized that even if what they did got them into some rough shit, was done with good intentions. And thank you, he also really needed to thank them. Because he also realized he didn't remember one time he had thanked them for protecting him throughout the years.

       Carlos was grateful that the hallways were void of people. He had gotten used to people staring at his face in the last couple of days, but he still didn't like it. And tonight was not one of the nights he wanted to deal with it. He just wanted to quickly get to Mal and Evie's room, apologize, make up, and then hustle it back to his and Jay's room and beg Jay for forgiveness as well.

       Luckily since there were no people wandering about, he quickly navigated through the halls to Evie and Mal's room. He quickly removed the necklace Jane had got him and shoved it into his pocket. Then he stood in front of the door, taking a deep breath  before pounding lightly on the door. It was opened by Evie in a matter of seconds.

      " Carlos!" She smiled. " We've been wondering where you were." Across the room Carlos can hear Mal clear her throat loudly. Evie rolls her eyes and mutters, " Well I've been wondering where you were."

      Carlos could see Mal over Evie's shoulder. She was laying on her bed while giving him her famous glare, and he couldn't help but glare back. After a few seconds he snapped his attention back over to Evie. " Yeah, I lost track of time," He paused, clearing his throat. " I came over here to say I'm so sorry. Like really. I've had a couple hours to think over everything and I was being a complete douche."

         " No you weren't," Evie quickly interjected, frowning.

        " Yes he was!" Mal shouted from her spot on her bed.  Evie snapped her head back to shoot Mal a glare, telling her to shut up.

          " Do you want to come in?"  Evie opened the door wider so Carlos had room to step in. Carlos thought for a moment, quickly gazing over to Mal who still looked pissed as hell.

         " No, just wanted to pass by quickly," Carlos seemed to pause for a moment and quickly decided on his actions. He stepped forward and embraced Evie, giving her a long hug. It wasn't a big deal, not really, but he hardly ever did it, it was weird to show affection on the Isle.  

         " I'm so sorry, Eves. You guys have done so much for me. Thank you. God, I've never said that. Thank you for every fucking thing you have ever done for me," He snuggled his head into Evie's neck, allowing his arms to wrap tighter around her torso. " Please forgive me. I get it if you don't want to, because I don't think I would forgive myself, but I'm sorry. Im sorry for being a totally douche, and not thanking-" He didn't realize he was rambling, but he couldn't help it.  These thoughts had been trapped in his mind all day and he was finally able to let them all out.

          " I forgive you, Carlos!" Evie's muffled voice quickly cut Carlos off. " You're perfect, C. Don't beat yourself up over this. I've never cared about any of that stuff. C, I forgive you, alright?" Evie pulled back and smiled widely at Carlos. Carlos smiled back, shaking his head.

       " You're not lying?" Carlos asked wearily, half serious, half joking.

          Evie lightly punched him in the arm before replying, " Of course not! You have always been forgiven. Now go talk to Jay, he's been worried as hell." She smiled again, and Carlos realized that he had been worrying for nothing.

        " Alright...I'll see you guys tomorrow. Night," He gave Evie one more side hug before turning around to leave.

        " I forgive you too!" He could hear Mal shout through the partial closed door. He bit his lip to refrain from smiling. He walked down the hall and once he was around the corner he allowed the smile to grace his lips.

 ***

         Jay was worried. He was totally fucking worried. He had asked about ten different people if they had seen Carlos and no one knew where he was. How could no one possibly know where the stupid kid was? He was not hard to miss. So once no one knew where he was, he went to Mal and Evie's room. They were of no help either. Mal had hit him, telling him to chill the hell out, and Evie said he was probably in the library or something and to wait for Carlos to come back when he was ready.

       So he had done just that. He had gone back to his room and laid down on his bed and impatiently waited for that stupid door to swing open and the white-haired boy to come walking on in.  And he had managed to convince himself that it would be stupid to go look for Carlos. Because it would most likely piss the kid off even more, and Jay didn't want that. He wanted to make up and be able to talk again. And he was fine with sitting on his bed, counting how many creases were on the bedding, or how many times Dude would circle the room. But then it got to be almost seven, and he knew Carlos should be back by then.  But he wasn't going to freak out.

       And by the grace of the kings and queens at seven thirty the door swung open and Carlos' brilliant face appeared.

       Before Jay could get anything in, Carlos immediately shut the door and started rambling. " I'm so sorry Jay!" He walked closer to Jay and stopped when they were less than a foot away from each other. " I'm so sorry for everything. You guys were only trying to protect me. You were being amazing friends and I was being selfish and stupid. Forgive me, please. I'm really sorry," He was repeating his words and Jay couldn't help but smile.

        Carlos looked sad, and Jay couldn't have that. Add that to the ramblings and you don't have a very good case, so Jay had to come with a good solution.  He closed the gap between them and placed a chaste kiss on Carlos' lip. " I forgive you," Jay muttered after he pulled away from Carlos before going to kiss him again. This was a pretty good solution.

           Carlos didn't let Jay kiss him long. He gently pulled back and gazed up at Jay. " You didn't just say that to shut me up, did you?" Carlos questioned skeptically, lowering his eyes at Jay.

        Jay frowned as he pulled Carlos in for a hug. " No, of course not, you idiot." Carlos buried his head into the crook of Jay's neck. Jay's familiar scent surrounded Carlos  and he finally felt content. He sighed happily and pushed his body closer to Jay's. Jay reluctantly pulled away from Carlos after a couple of minutes and took his hand in his own.

         " Are you okay?" He gripped Carlos' hand and locked his eyes with his. Carlos licked his lips and nodded.

         " Much better," He muttered," But I would like to rest. And talk." He let go of Jay's hand and walked towards his bed, petting Dude on the way over.

         " We can do that," Jay smiled, wanting to do anything that would make Carlos happy at the moment.

           Carlos quickly got situated on his bed, snuggling down into the covers and smiling up at Jay. Jay laughed as he took his shoes off and jumped onto Carlos' bed, shaking the frame and nearly pushing Carlos off.

           " Did you have to do that?" Carlos tried to glare at Jay but a laugh escaped his lips instead. Jay smirked as he fixed the covers around himself.

          " Yeah. More fun that way," He poked at Carlos' shoulder and Carlos rolled his eyes.

           " I just talked to Evie and Mal," Carlos spoke to Jay, slowly scooting himself from the edge of the bed to middle, closer to Jay's warm body.

           " How'd that go?"

            " Evie forgave me," He hid his smile in his covers. Jay responded by pulling on Carlos' hand and began tracing patterns onto it and up his arm slowly.

           " Yeah?" Jay muttered, almost inaudible. He kept tracing circles on the outer corner of Carlos' hand with his thumb. Carlos sighed contently, shuffling even closer to Jay.

            " Yeah."

             " What about Mal?" Jay flicked his eyes up to meet Carlos', knowing this answer would be a little different than the one for Evie.

        " I think she's a little indifferent," Carlos responded after a short pause.

         "Gotcha," Jay answered back, hardly shocked by the answer.

         " And you?" Carlos whispered, faces inches from each other. " What do you think?" He paused, " About me? "

          They stared at each other for a moment before Jay smiled wide, muttering, " I think you're fucking amazing," and then placing his lips on Carlos'. Every inch of Carlos screamed _no no no_ , and to stop. But he needed it, he really did. He had had a really shitty day, and it's not like anyone was stopping them, and if neither one of them talked about it afterwards, then what did it matter?

         Carlos placed his hand around Jay's waist and used it to pull himself against Jay completely. He smiled into the kiss, and when Jay laughed, he felt like everything in the world was okay. Right then, right there. Everything was perfect.

       Until it wasn't.

       Jay was just about to push Carlos over and hover above him when a loud banging sounded throughout the room. Jay and Carlos both scrambled up and hopped away from each other. They looked at each other quizzically, wondering who the hell it could be. The pounding got louder and they could hear someone shout on the other end. Jay immediately got in front of Carlos and slowly walked up to the door. While Jay went for the door Carlos tried to fix his hair to the best of his ability, trying to appear as normal as possible.

       Jay unlocked the door and pulled it open carefully. His brows scrunched up when he saw Ben and the Fairy Godmother standing in front of him. And he frowned even more when he saw the look of anger on Fairy Godmother's face.

      " Who is it?" Carlos asked, stepping closer. Jay pushed the door open so Carlos could see clearly. When Carlos got sight of who it was he tensed, his heart beat rising.

    " Hello," Jay smiled at the two surprise guests. " What do you two lovely people need on this fine evening?" He forced a smile and hoped to god that this wasn't about what he thought it was.

         Fairy Godmother scowled and said forcefully," You. Carlos. My office, _now."_

          Jay gulped and looked back at Carlos, his eyes wide. Both mouthing to each other,

        " Shit."

          Carlos was taking the apology back. He was going to fucking murder Mal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally have no excuse on why this took almost a month to update. Hope the wait was worth it.. Sorry!


	8. The Breakfast Club

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taking me basically a month to update. During that time span I wrote two other stories, and have been working on a giant project. So after this Wednesday I should be updating more often. (hopefully!) I'm thinking this will be about 3 more chapters, but I could be wrong, it might end up being longer.

     Carlos was sweating the whole walk down to the office.  It felt like they were being escorted to a prison cell. Fairy Godmother walked with a purpose in front of them and Ben was walking behind Jay and Carlos as if they would bolt at any minute. On the way they picked up Mal and Evie who looked just as nervous as the boys did. Mal and Evie filed behind Jay and Carlos without saying a word. The walk was awkward. No one dared to say a word, and Carlos didn't like the look Ben had on his face. And to top it off their group looked suspicious as hell. They had to walk down a hallway filled with teenagers who were quick to whisper and gaze curiously at them. Carlos knew what they thought. They were a group of four 'trouble-making' villains who were shoved in between Ben, who looked disappointed, and The Fairy Godmother who looked mad as hell. He didn't blame them for making assumptions, but it still pissed him off. 

      " I bet they tried to steal the wand again," Jay heard muttered in the crowd. He scoffed at the ridiculous insinuation. If they were going to steal the wand, no one would know. ( At least, not this time).

     " Hey buddy," Jay began, looking for whoever made the statement. " Fuc-"

      " Jay!" Carlos yelped, jabbing him in the side. They were already in enough trouble, they didn't need to get in anymore, especially over something so stupid. Jay muttered something under his breath but settled back into line and kept his mouth shut.

     Carlos looked quickly behind his shoulder and locked eyes with Mal. She showed confusion as he glared at her. When he looked at Evie all she could do was smile slowly at him. If anyone was going to give them away, it would be her. She looked extremely  nervous and she had always been the worst at lying. Carlos wished at that moment he and Evie could telepathically communicate so he could tell her to keep her mouth shut.

      When they got to the office, the tension seemed to rise. The four of them weren't sure if they should stand or sit, so they opted to stand side by side in front of  Fairy Godmother's desk. Ben stood off to the side while clasping his hands, gazing at the group as if he had something very important to say. Jay didn't understand why they had to take orders from him. He was a 16 year old teenager just like the rest of them. What kind of place puts a teenager in charge?

    " So, why are we here?" Mal asked, forcing a smile onto her face. Play dumb, that was always the route to go.

    " I think you would know," Fairy Godmother said simply, tilting her head ever so slightly.

     " Excuse me?" Mal gave a nervous chuckle, looking to her friends for help.

     " I don't know if you know this," Ben butted in, stepping forward. " But Chad wasn't at school today."

        Jay tried not to scowl as he stated roughly, " Okay. And that's our problem how?"

        " I'm glad you asked, Jay." Fairy Godmother smiled as she placed her hands in front of her, on top of the desk.  " When a student doesn't show up for school and doesn't notify any teacher as to why they're gone, it is protocol to go check up on them once the day of schooling is over." She pauses for emphasis, causing the group to tense slightly. " When we had a teacher go check on Chad, we found him tied to a chair with bruises all along his face. And then when we tried to ask him a question we found out that he couldn't speak because of some spell that had been cursed on him. We found that rather odd since no one at Auradon are taught spells such as those. It took us nearly two hours to find a reverse spell. And when he was able to speak, do you want to know what he told us?"

       " Sure, what?" Carlos sighed, stuffing his hands into his pocket. Everything was about to go downhill.

      " That you four ganged up on him last night." The four of them immediately went into a commotion, all talking over one another. They should've saw this coming.

       " He's lying!" Carlos shouted. The others were quick to mimic his claim as well.

       " I know that," Fairy Godmother sighed, wishing the teenagers had been able to stay calm.

       " Oh," Carlos deadpanned. What were they in trouble for, then?

       " Then why are we in here?" Evie calmly asked, looking curiously at Ben and then at Fairy Godmother. She just wanted to leave. She felt like she was on trial.

      " After I had a further conversation with him I got what I assume is the truth," She paused in case the teenagers wanted to start shouting again. When they stayed silent she continued. " He told me he saw Carlos in the hall and said some things to him that he probably shouldn't have. It obviously angered Carlos, so Carlos responded violently and hit at Chad. Chad did the only thing he could think of and defended himself by punching Carlos back."

        Jay stepped forward, protesting. " No! That's-"

        "Eh!" Fairy Godmother shouted, cueing Jay to keep his mouth shut. " I will finish talking then you all may speak." She looked at each child to make sure they understood. " Alright, so after that he said they ended the argument. Then later Jay came to speak to him, and he appeared angry. He thinks that perhaps Carlos told you all about the incident and were angered by it. That's why Jay proceeded to beat him up, and why Mal and Evie tied and then cast a few spells onto Chad?"  

       " You don't seriously believe him?" Mal gawked, gazing over at Ben. " Ben?"

      " Look, this whole situation is really hard for us. I mean Carlos _does_ have bruises on his face, which only helps prove that something did occur between him and Chad." Ben didn't want to appear as the bad guy, but it was really difficult to know which group was telling the truth.

        " He's lying, you know that right?" Carlos asked Ben, furrowing his brow. How could Ben not believe them?

       " I don't kn-" Ben began before he was promptly cut off by Fairy Godmother.

       " Chad has never given us problems before. We have no reason to doubt him, but apparently you all do. Why is that?"

        " Because he is a dick!" Evie shouted suddenly. Once she realized she had said that aloud, her eyes went wide and she ducked her head down.

       Fairy Godmother looked flabbergasted. She was preparing to reprimand Evie when Jay stepped forward, commenting before Evie had a chance to get in trouble.

      " I think what Evie was trying to say is that Chad isn't exactly the person you think he is. Everyone can have a facade. He isn't the perfect prince you think him to be," Jay tried to speak calmly, and hoped whatever he decided to say didn't dig them into a deeper hole. " Before you decide on anything, I think you should hear Carlos' side of the story. It's only fair."

      Fairy Godmother was silent in thought. Chad had never caused problems before, so it was a bit odd for the teenagers to claim that he was at fault. And in some way, she wanted to believe them, but she couldn't help that tiny thought of thinking they were lying, because of who these children were. It was very biased of her, but who would trust the villain kids over the son of Cinderella? She was in a very tough spot, and she wasn't sure how to handle it. Ben seemed as troubled as she was. It was all hearsay, aside from the bruises on the two boys' faces, and she almost wanted to forget about it altogether.

       " Alright," She finally spoke. " Let's hear it."

        Carlos lifted his head up and glanced at Jay before speaking. " Uh, okay," He cleared his throat awkwardly. " Um, well..Chad has been picking on me, I guess. Cause, um, y'know I'm  gay and everything. And I guess I'm not really helping myself by dating Jay..." He coughed, scratching at the back of his neck, trying to avoid eye contact with everyone in the room. " And so he's just kinda been yelling stupid stuff at me, like calling me a fag. Then last night him and two other guys came up to me and started saying how I was carrying a disease, and was worthless for being gay and um, that I didn't deserve to be here, and then they just started hitting me. So obviously I hit them back, but that only made them angrier and so they knocked me down and started kicking me," He paused again to take a quick breath, wanting to get his story out as quick as possible. " Chad got those bruises from me, yeah, but only because I was defending myself. He initiated it, not me."

       Fairy Godmother shook her head slowly, eyeing between Jay and Mal. " And the other three? Jay, Mal, Evie? Was theirs self-defense, too?"

       " Not exactly.." Mal mumbled, realizing they were going to have to admit what they had done. " Chad did tell the truth about that part....He did anger us and we did retaliate on him. But what Carlos said was the truth. Chad punched him first. You have to believe us."

         Fairy Godmother and Ben exchanged a look, determining on what to tell the other teenagers. Fairy Godmother stood up, smoothing down her dress. " Will you please give Ben and me a second to discuss this?" She smiled at the kids as her and Ben walked to the corner of the room and talked in hushed whispers. The four teenagers nodded slowly before turning around and facing each other, each wearing a nervous expression.

      " What do you think they're saying?" Evie asked, trying her best to read their lips, though she wasn't succeeding much.

      " Who cares? They're gonna tell us in like a minute," Jay snapped as he glanced at Evie. His eyes quickly caught Carlos' pale face and his nearly shaking form. He frowned before stepping behind Evie and moving to Carlos' side.

      " It's going to be okay, C," Jay whispered in Carlos ear, grasping at his hand. He knew all the thoughts that were running through his head, and he wanted to make sure Carlos knew that everything was going to be okay. ( At least, he thought so).

       " I don't know," Carlos replied shakily, looking in Ben and Fairy Godmother's direction. " They don't believe us. I know they don't," Carlos was breathing shakily as he locked eyes with Jay. They were going to get sent back. He knew it.

      Jay used his hand that wasn't in Carlos' to reach up and graze his thumb over Carlos' cheek slowly while whispering, " Shhh, C. This is our home now, alright? The stupid Fairy Godmother might not believe us, but Ben will, alright? Babe, it'll be okay," Jay rubbed his thumb over Carlos' cheek again as he pulled Carlos into his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around his torso, placing a kiss into his curly white hair.

        Evie eyed them curiously, leaning into Mal. " Aren't they fake dating?"

        Mal rolled her eyes. She had seen the exchange too, but she had learned to ignore it. She wasn't going to play matchmaker, or help them realize that they both were totally in to each other. " They think so," She mumbled.  She just hoped to god one of them admitted their feelings soon, and if they didn't do that she hoped their 'break up' would occur soon. Because if they waited any longer to do either one of those things,  their little 'fake' stunt would end in flames. And Mal didn't want to have to be there to help clean up the mess.

      The whispers soon quit and Ben and Fairy Godmother were walking back towards the teenagers. They immediately straightened back up into a line and impatiently awaited their punishment or no punishment.

     "Ben and I have come to an agreement." She tries to smile, but it comes out looking forced. She wanted to go a different route for the teenagers , but Ben convinced her otherwise. " Your punishment.."

      " Punishment!" Carlos shouted wide eyed. Punishment in his brain was equal to getting sent back to his mother. " No! You can't-please, don't, we can't-" He was trying to breathe, but his body seemed to forget how. " I can't go back to the Isle. I can't-" His throat was burning, and he couldn't get enough air.

     " Carlos, breathe!" Jay frowned at the boy, placing his hands on his shoulders.

      " What? Who said anything about the Isle?" Fairy Godmother frowned, wondering what caused Carlos to suddenly freak out. Her statement seemed to calm the boy; his face scrunching up in confusion as he finally sucked in a puff of air.

     " Wha-What?" Carlos stuttered, confused. He never thought they would get any other type of punishment besides getting sent back.

     " We're not sending any of you back. While, yes, that was our original terms, this situation does not call for those dire needs. This situation was very tricky in that we could only go by word. Because we did not see the situation ourselves and we're not entirely sure on what the truth is, it wouldn't be entirely fair for us to send you guys back."

     " Thank god," Carlos and Evie both mumbled together.

     " But there still needs to be punishment," Ben stated, looking as if he didn't really want to be delivering the news. " The one thing we do know  because you all admitted it is that Mal, Jay and Evie did play a part in it. Because of your interference by using violence and banned magic, you three will have detention for four days a week for the next month. " The three groaned loudly. Mal was going to attempt to argue with Ben, but thought it better not to.

     " And me?" Carlos asked, hoping his punishment was the same as theirs. He really hoped his punishment wouldn't be worse. But knowing his luck, it probably would be.

      " Since we can't be sure what happened with you and Chad, your punishment won't be as severe. Chad will be serving a week of detention, and you Carlos will go to detention four times a week for three weeks."

         " That's biased!" Jay shouted angrily. Chad was the one who started it all, and if they couldn't prove who was at fault, Carlos and Chad should get the same punishment. The only reason they gave Chad a less severe punishment was because of his title. He wasn't some evil doing son of a villain like Carlos was.

        Ben frowned and Fairy Godmother sent Jay a hard glare. " It is what we have chosen  and I suggest you don't say another word unless you would like another week of detention?" Jay hadn't realized Fairy Godmother could be so mean. He found a new hatred for her. At first she seemed like she wanted to give them a chance, but now it seemed as if she had a change in heart. She seemed to hate them now.

        " We understand our punishment," Evie piped in, giving Jay a look. She usually was the one to screw things up, but now Jay was doing a much better job at it.

     " I'm glad," Fairy Godmother smiled. Carlos couldn't help but roll his eyes. " We also highly recommend you try to distance yourselves from each other."

        They all gawked, looking at each other in awe of what she had said. She was joking, right? There was no way in hell she was going to separate them.

      " That might be a little hard since we room with each other," Mal scoffed, trying hard to act kind towards Ben and Fairy Godmother. She was finding it very difficult at the moment.

     " And since Carlos and I are dating.." Jay trailed off, pointing between him and the white haired boy. He wanted to explode onto both Ben and Fairy Godmother, but he knew it would do them no good.

    " Right," Fairy Godmother mumbled. " Well, just try to make some new friends.     

     _No one wants to be our friends_  Jay thought quickly.

      " We have other friends," Evie smiled. " Doug, and Jane." Jay glared at her. " Not Jane."

       " Ben, he's our friend," Mal piped in, smiling weakly.

       " And that's a good start. Just try to make some more friends, alright?"

        The four mumbled in unison, getting tired of the conversation. Fairy Godmother could see that they were getting antsy to leave, so she walked towards the door, opening it.

      " Alright, well that's all. You may leave now." She had never seen teenagers leave a room so quickly before.

       Carlos was the last one out and he was going to join Jay in the hall when he felt a tug on his arm.

        " Carlos, wait," Ben smiled, tugging at Carlos' arm. Carlos looked at Ben curiously as he halted in front of the door.

        " Yeah?"

       " I couldn't help but notice you're wearing my ring. Why is that?" He pointed to the gold ring around Carlos' finger, the one Carlos had proudly stolen a day before.

      Carlos tried to stay calm as his heart seemed to beat out of his chest. Lie, that's all he had to do. He was good at it, he did it every day. He could do it. " I found it in the field this morning.  I was going to give it to you the next time I saw you," As he spoke he quickly took off the ring, ready to give it back to Ben.

      Ben seemed to have other ideas. Ben smirked down at the boy, ignoring his outstretched hand holding the ring. " You know, " He whispered, leaning down to dip his head down into the crook of Carlos' neck, so he could speak into his ear. " If you wanted to wear something of mine you could've just asked." Ben's hot breath hit the side of Carlos' neck and he couldn't help the shiver that escaped him. Ben lingered around Carlos' neck before standing up, staring intently at Carlos.

        Jay stood impatiently in the hallway. He was ready to leave, and he wasn't happy when Ben pulled Carlos aside. What was possibly so important that he couldn't wait until later? He just wanted to go relax before-and Oh. _Oh._ Jay tensed as he watched as Ben pulled Carlos close, _way_ too close, whispering something to him. He watched as Ben's lips nearly touched the side of Carlos' neck, and frowned at the way Carlos' eyes fluttered. Jay was moving before he was even aware, because what the fuck did Ben think he was doing?

    Carlos flushed a deep red, stuttering, " What-, no, I mean, uh," He wasn't sure on what else to say, so he was thankful when Jay suddenly whipped to his side, moving between him and Ben. Tension immediately filled the air, and Carlos ducked behind Jay. Jay stood straight, puffing out his chest, taking what Carlos had learned to be his fighting stance.

     " I don't know what you think you're doing," Jay started, his voice booming.

       Carlos noted the way Jay stood, and the way his fists where clenched at his sides. Carlos didn't want another fight. " He just wanted his ring," He stated sheepishly, trying to keep Jay cool and collected. That always seemed to be his job. The peace-maker.

     " His ring?" Jay questioned skeptically, knowing fully-well whatever he had  witnessed was not just about getting a ring back.

       " Yeah," Ben stated harshly, lowering his eyes at Jay. " So why don't _you_ just back off-"

        _Nope._

" Okay!" Carlos shouted, scrambling to get between Ben and Jay. " We're leaving," He told Ben, giving himself enough time to rudely drop the ring onto the ground. He latched onto Jay's arm and used all his strength to push him out into the hall, away from Ben. Away from another fist fight.

      Jay was fuming as he stomped down the hallway, cursing under his breath. Carlos had to run to keep up with, grabbing at his arm so Jay wouldn't leave him behind.

        " I fucking _hate_ him," Jay seethed through clenched teeth. Why would Ben do that? Why did he suddenly seem to have an interest in Carlos?

       " I know," Carlos muttered. He wanted to say more, but he knew when Jay got angry or upset it was usually best to keep your mouth shut and let him rant.

       " Do you?" Jay questioned, halting in the middle of the hall. Carlos cocked his head in confusion. " Hate him? Do you hate him?" He sounded stupid asking Carlos that. It made him sound needy and jealous and insecure. But he had to be sure. Because if Carlos did hate him, he would've moved back from Ben, he would've reacted differently. Right? Carlos didn't like Ben. He didn't. He would've told him, that was something he would know. And suddenly Jay realized: why the hell was he freaking out?

     " I don't know," Carlos responded slowly, caught off guard by Jay's abrupt question. His answer didn't seem to satisfy Jay, who frowned and seemed to go into thought, so Carlos quickly rethought his answer. " I mean, he's been a bit weird lately. Flirting with me and stuff.." He scratched at the back of his neck, suddenly uncomfortable with the situation.

    _So do you like him?_   But instead, " Which is why I fucking hate him," Jay roughly grabbed Carlos' hand and they were walking again. His chest tightened and he clenched his jaw as he mentally scolded himself. He needed to calm the hell down. It was just Carlos. They weren't actually dating.

      " Maybe Mal can keep him away from me," Carlos joked, forcing out a laugh. Jay looked in his direction with a gleam in his eye and a small smirk playing on his face.

      " That's a great idea, C."

        _Oh no._ He groaned, what had he just done.

***

       Detention was something Jay was very familiar with.  Even though back on the Isle you're supposed to do bad things and be evil, the teachers didn't like disruptions. So any time you caused a disruption: detention. And Jay loved causing disruptions. Detentions on the Isle weren't too bad. It was basically just an extension to school. You got an extra lesson on how to do something evil. It was easy, really. But he had a feeling Auradon's version of detention would be different.

       And how very right he had been. Him and Carlos had walked into the classroom laughing and smiling, acting as if they had owned the place. Whoever was in charge of them weren't there yet so Carlos dashed over and jumped up to sit on the table. Jay had laughed as he followed, going to stand in front of him.

      They didn't have much else to do, and they hadn't kissed each other in like three days, so Jay thought why not. He was quick to open Carlos' thighs so he could fit between them, grabbing the back of Carlos' neck and pulling his lips to his own, a squeak emitting from Carlos. Jay laughed and Carlos was nervous. Why was he nervous?

        Jay quickly worked Carlos' mouth opened, biting down on Carlos' lip as he always did.  Carlos groaned happily, tugging Jay closer. Of course the thought that always made its way into the back of Jay's head decided to appear. They were fake dating, and no one was watching, so why were they making out in the middle of detention on a table? He always quickly shoved the thought back down. They never questioned it. They didn't want to know. ( They didn't want to ruin anything).

        Carlos wasn't sure how long they had been kissing, but they were rudely interrupted with a loud and sudden, " Gross!" Mal and Evie had arrived together, and Mal had been quick to share her feelings, as always. Obviously, Jay and Carlos jumped apart from each other, with Jay knocking down a chair in the process.

       And being the good friends that Mal and Evie were, they didn't question it. They only snickered and gazed at the flustered boys and their appearance. The best part was, the boys had no clue.

      Jay thought, if every detention began that way, he could get used to it. Detention might not be such a horrible place after all. But then the teacher arrived. He separated the group, each teen working on something by themselves. Jay got to rearrange and stack books, something he was sure Carlos would've loved doing. Carlos was stuck in the detention room, scraping off every piece of gum on the bottom of the desks. The job had sounded easy at first, but once he actually got to scraping, he realized how wrong he had been. After he was done, his arm was burning and Jay was complaining about books. How could you complain about books!

      That's how the rest of the detentions went. Each day they'd get a different task, and each detention they never got to see each other. It was horrible, and made Jay hate Fairy Godmother even more.

   **

     On the seventh detention, Jay couldn't handle it anymore. He had to do something fun, something other than stacking the adventure books, then the romance books, or dusting every single shelf in the trophy room. He had to do something rebellious (of course he did).

    So before the teacher arrived, Jay was quick to whisper in Carlos' ear. " Once we've been separated and gotten our tasks, ask to go to the bathroom."

    Carlos licked his lips, " Why?"

   " Just do it." He smiled, giving a quick peck to the top of Carlos' nose. He ignored the look Mal gave him as he did so.

     After Jay was given the room he was in, he waited a moment before going out the door and waiting patiently for the other door to open. A few seconds later the door slowly crept open and Carlos peeked his head out curiously. When Jay waved him over, he made his way out, shutting the door quietly behind him.

    " What are we doing?" Carlos whispered, walking up to Jay who was leaning back against the wall.

   Jay grabbed Carlos' hand, pulling him down the hallway with him. " Just come on!" He laughed as he speedily dashed down the hallway, searching for the black door he had memorized.

     Carlos couldn't help but laugh at Jay's eagerness, at the smile on his face. " You're weird."

    " I know, now shut up," Jay breathed, stopping in front of the door.

    " Uh, wha-" Carlos questioned, raising his brow in confusion as Jay jimmied the door knob and swung it open, revealing mops and cleaning supplies. Why had Jay led him to a supp- _oh._

   Jay walked into the darkness, pulling Carlos with him. Carlos slowly followed, closing the door behind them.

    " Again. You're weird," Carlos breathed nervously. He could feel and hear Jay scooting himself closer to his body. Carlos knew what was going to happen. He had read books and seen movies. But he was confused, so confused, because why were they doing this? Who was going to see them?

    " We haven't done anything fun in a while," His voice was getting closer and Carlos suddenly felt two hands on his waist. " So I thought we could do something dumb and cliche, but _fun."_ Jay had Carlos pinned against a wall now.

    " Okay," Carlos breathed before Jay smashed his lips onto Carlos'. The hands around Carlos' waist tightened as Carlos tugged on Jay's hair. After several times of kissing, Carlos had figured out that Jay liked it when he did that. He liked it a lot.

      Carlos licked at Jay's lips, biting down on his bottom lip before Jay had the chance to do it to him. Jay groaned out in surprise, then quickly working his tongue in. When they had to catch their breath, Jay attached his lips to the juncture between Carlos' neck and collar bone, not wanting to waste any time. He sucked and nipped at the spot, causing Carlos to fist Jay's shirt tightly, his heart beating a thousand miles a minute. Jay moved to a different spot on Carlos' neck, biting down on it. This time Carlos couldn't help but groan out, bucking forward. That would usually be the time when they would break apart, breathing heavy and acting awkward. But Jay took another option. He bit down again and responded by thrusting his hips forward again, creating friction.

       Soon they were in a consistent rocking motion, and Carlos wasn't sure how to feel. This was new, it was very new. But he liked it. ( He loved it).

       When Jay was sure he had left plenty marks on Carlos' neck, he peppered kisses a long his jaw before capturing Carlos' lips again. Carlos took the opportunity to nip at Jay's lips, grinding faster against him. Before he really realized what he was doing, his hands were playing with the hem of Jay's shirt and then they were under it, splayed out on his abs, roaming and feeling. And when Jay groaned again, so Carlos tugged at the shirt and parted from Jay to lift it up off of him.

       Both teens had time to think about what was going on, but they both decided they didn't want to. They would deal with consequences later.

      Jay laughed as he muttered, " You too, pretty boy," He pulled at the bottom of Carlos red shirt and helped him get it off. Carlos laughed as they reconnected lips again.

    Somewhere along the way, against the grinding, the sound of skin against skin, and the trail of bruises a long both boy's necks, Carlos mumbled lazily while nipping at Jay's lips, " I like you." Once the words left his mouth he was snapped out of his haze, suddenly well aware of what he said and what they were doing. He had just screwed everything up. He was going to push Jay away, ready to apologize but Jay didn't seem too startled by the  proclamation.

     Carlos caught Jay's eyes which were dark and hooded. Jay smirked lazily as he lowered his head down to make more spots on Carlos' neck. " I like you, too."

    Carlos couldn't move for what seemed like minutes as Jay continued to kiss and nip at Carlos' neck and collar bone, completely unfazed. However, when Jay went back to kissing Carlos, Carlos was quick to respond, sliding his hands back into Jay's hair.

    When Jay pulled back for a quick breath of air, Carlos quickly breathed out, " Still just acting?"

    Jay smirked, saying, " Just acting, C," against his lips. " Fake," He breathed, then pushing his body closer to Carlos, devouring his mouth once again.

  And just like that, those three words:  _" I like you "_ forgotten completely, like they had never been said.


	9. What Did We Do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to make this chapter longer, but I wanted to get it posted tonight, so here you go.

 

           Carlos wishes Jay and his first time had been special. That it had been meaningful, that it wasn't just a way to use each other; a way to vent their emotions through unhealthy means. It was filled with lust and raw anger and confusion, and Carlos wishes it had been different. He's not sure how Jay feels, but he knows neither one of them are going to talk about it.

         It happened on a Friday, after the last detention for Jay, Evie, and Mal. It was also the two month anniversary since they had started their little charade. Since Carlos had gotten a week less of detention, he spent the evenings in his bedroom, working on homework or inventions, waiting for his friends to get finished. It was boring, but he didn't want to make anymore friends as Fairy Godmother had instructed them to do. He did hang out with Jane the first day he had to wait for his friends to get out of detention, but he decided he would not do that again. He found that she liked to pry; ask personal questions he didn't want to answer. Slowly he realized their friendship was built on lies, and he knew she didn't deserve that. So, instead of chatting up Jane on the nights he's waiting for Jay to get back, he spends it talking to Dude and messing with wires and trinkets.

         It's nearly ten at night and Carlos is trying to decide where to place a wire when Jay barges in, a bottle of alcohol in his hand and a wide grin plastered on his face. Carlos jumps, partially startled and gazes curiously at the bottle in Jay's hand. He doesn't know how Jay managed to come across it, and he decides he doesn't want to know. Instead, he asks, " Why do you have that?"

          The grin on Jay's face does not falter as he shouts, " To celebrate!"

         Carlos can't help but laugh. Jay's logic doesn't make much sense. They just got done serving detention for having illegal items, and Jay wants to celebrate with another illegal item which could get him sent right back to detention. (Or to the Isle). 

          " Oh, good idea," Carlos responds sarcastically as he lets out another low chuckle. He plays with the wires attached to his machine, causing Jay to gaze at it.

          " What's that?" He seems genuinely interested which causes Carlos to smile widely.

         " I'm trying to make a self-running vacuum," He flicks at the wires again and then watches as Jay nods his head and twists open the top to the bottle.

          " That could sell for some good cash," Jay looks at the machine again and then takes a long swig of the liquid, burning his throat as it goes down.

          " I guess..." Carlos mumbles, watching intently as Jay drinks from the bottle. Jay seems to notice the hard stare from Carlos, finishing a sip before offering it to Carlos.

         " Want some?"

         Carlos pauses a moment. " What is it?"

         Jay looks at the label, " Mm..whiskey? I dunno, it all tastes the same to me."

        Carlos pauses again, contemplating if he really wants to do something so stupid. It was something him and Jay (and sometimes Mal, but never Evie) used to do on the Isle whenever they managed to get their hands on it. They obviously never used it for the taste, but to numb their pain. To make them forget about the painful hell they lived in. It made everything perfect for a little bit, and suddenly, Carlos realized he missed that feeling, he missed it a lot.

           Carlos nearly lunged forward, scrambling for the bottle while speaking, " Give it." He wrapped his fingers around the cold glass and ripped it from Jay's hands. He quickly put it to his mouth and drank a generous amount, enough to leave a heavy burning sensation down his throat. It was foul and gross, but it was oh so familiar. It worked its way down his body and warmed his bones. He let his eyes close for a split second, because this was what felt like home. Without realizing it, he took another heavy chug, causing it to be taken away from his greedy hands.

        Jay let himself watch as Carlos' eyes slipped shut and a sigh escaped his parted lips. He noted the way Carlos' hair was ruffled up, his heavy lidded eyes, and that dazed smile on his lips. It warms Jay's stomach, because this was familiar, and he never realized how much he had missed it. He gulped heavily as he continued to watch Carlos lick his lips before taking another drink. He watches as Carlos gulps and removes the bottle from his lips. Carlos is about to take another drink which causes Jay to snap out of his daze.

       " Woah!" He lunges for the bottle and quickly takes it back. Carlos frowns slightly and Jay responds with a smirk. " Don't drink all of it, C. I want some, too." Jay locks eyes with Carlos, a glint appearing in his  brown eyes. Jay leans his head back and takes a drink while keeping eye contact with Carlos.  Jay finishes with a smack of his lips and hands the bottle back to Carlos. " Your turn."

         They pass the bottle back and forth in a constant rhythm, talking about nonsense they're not going to remember in the morning. They continue the rhythm until the bottle is half gone and Jay is trying to walk in a straight line across the room with a ridiculous grin on his face.

           Carlos watches as Jay stumbles to his left, knocking into the dresser.

           " Sit down," He mumbles, and begins to laugh as Jay knocks into the dresser again and then regains his balance. Jay doesn't listen and starts for the door.

            " No," He nearly shouts and then lifts his hands in the air. " I'm going to go run down the hallway!" He yells happily and then starts whooping, opening the door slightly.

            " No, Jay," Carlos laughs again, immediately removing himself from his bed, going to stop Jay from getting them in trouble. Carlos manages to grab Jay's arm before Jay can fully remove himself from their room. " You can't," He tries to sound serious, but ends up laughing. " Come back." He tugs on Jay's arm. When Jay doesn't move, he pulls at it harder. It must've been a little too hard because Jay comes stumbling back into their room and Carlos rams into Jay's chest.

                Carlos tries to move back, but Jay had a firm grip on his waist, making sure he wouldn't go anywhere.  Jay has a lazy smirk on his face and leans further into Carlos. " Hello," He mumbles lowly, his alcohol breath tickling Carlos' nose.

          " You're loud," Carlos complains as Jay begins to nose at the side of his neck. He thinks about moving away, but Jay nips slightly on his skin and Carlos quickly decides against it.

          " I bet you could be louder," Jay challenges, voice low and intoxicating. Before Carlos can respond, Jay is latching onto Carlos' sides and pushing him up against the door, promptly shutting it.

          Carlos tries to think clearly, but his common sense seems to be hazed over by the amount of alcohol he had drank and the way that Jay was pushed up against him.  Neither one of them say anything for what seemed like an eternity. The only sound is their heavy breathing as Jay dips his head down to Carlos collar bone and Carlos decides if he wants to stop him or not.

          As Jay finally nips at Carlos' collar bone, Carlos manages to rasp out heavily, " Let's see who can be louder."   

          It sounds stupid and utterly ridiculous, but Jay perfectly understands what Carlos is asking. The statement makes Jay's eyes go dark, a sight Carlos watched with hunger. A growl escapes Jay before he can help himself and suddenly they're kissing fervently;  teeth clashing together messily, tongues exploring every inch desperately with hot and heavy alcohol drenched breaths. Carlos fists at Jay's shirt, thinking somehow they could get closer.  

        As Jay goes to pull back, Carlos grabs at the front of his shirt and yanks him down back to his mouth.  Jay makes a surprised grunt as his lips smash back down onto Carlos', so Carlos roughly bites down on Jay's bottom lip. This causes Jay to rock forward in appreciation. Carlos can't help the whimper that escapes his throat, and suddenly he feels like his knees are going to collapse on him at any second. Jay removes his lips from Carlos' and begins a trail of bites and licks up down Carlos neck, and then attaches them to the juncture between Carlos'  collar bone.  He rocks forward again, and Carlos can't help but respond; his shorts getting tighter every second and his head getting dizzier and dizzier.

        They were still clothed, and Carlos' shorts were so tight he thought he might explode. He removed his hands from Jay's hair and splayed them under Jay's shirt, promptly lifting it up. " We're getting naked, _now_."

(And now that Carlos looks back at this moment, he _really_ wishes he hadn't said that). 

       Jay gulps heavily and gladly discards his shirt, while stating, " I thought you'd never ask, babe." (But since when did Jay need permission? Carlos asked himself).

        Once Jay's shirt is off, Carlos is quick to get rid of his, too. They quickly go back to kissing and groping each other helplessly. Touching and scraping skin that they couldn't get enough of; leaving trails of red and marks of blood to tell others: this one's _mine_. For a while this was enough to please them, but       Carlos' shorts were still hurting like hell and Jay really wanted the extra layer off, too. They couldn't seem to get enough friction and it killed both of them.

       " Jay," Carlos whimpers as Jay sucks on his collar bone, then licking the pain away. Carlos can feel Jay shudder against him, so Carlos groans again.

       When Jay's back is stinging and Carlos can't seem to catch his breath, Jay grabs at the bulge in Carlos' pants. Carlos jumps and moans all at once.

       " Time to take these off too, yeah?" Jay breathes, smirking as he fits himself between Carlos and presses down, causing Carlos' eyes  to flutter helplessly and a hoarse groan to sound in the back of his throat.

      He wants to say no. He wants to back away and stop everything before it got worse, but Carlos couldn't find it in himself to do that. He knew Jay would stop, everything would stop if he just said the magic word, but he doesn't want to. What he wants is Jay. He wants Jay. So he locks eyes with Jay, thrusting upwards and then grabs at the hem of his shorts. He licks his lips slowly, then shakes his head quickly, and Jay takes that as the okay. He smashes Carlos back up against the wall, biting at his neck and quickly slides his fingers under the hem of Carlos' shorts and slides them down with ease, and Carlos does the same for him.

         Once they're both completely naked, everything seems to happen in a blur. It's so much to take in that it just turns into a blurred dizzy mess in Carlos' head.  When they can't seem to get close enough Jay pulls Carlos away from the wall by the back of his neck, growling, " Bed." Carlos doesn't  verbally respond, but attaches his lips back to Jay and lets himself get pushed down onto the bed.

       Jay climbed on top of him, and Carlos couldn't restrain himself from looking up at him with wonder; with ~~love~~ _lust._ Jay does the same, looking at Carlos with awe as Carlos' hands explore Jay's chest, his back, his hips. 

     Carlos gets impatient and allows himself to thrust forward onto Jay, who snaps out of his Carlos-induced daze.

       Jay replies by smirking, and then his face goes serious, gnawing on his lip nervously. " Do you..?"

      Jay's eyes flick over Carlos' face, trying to determine what this boy was thinking.

      Wondering if he was thinking the same thing he was. Because fuck, this was supposed to be just acting. And what had they gotten themselves into?

    Carlos grips at Jay's side, nails digging into the flesh of his hip. "Yes," He breathes low, then louder, "Fuck yes."

     Carlos knows this is wrong. Knows this is going to end in flames, possibly end a friendship , and will cause who knows what else. But if this is the closest thing to love Carlos will get, then he'll gladly take it.

     (In the morning they both try to tell themselves it happened because they were drunk, but neither one of them want to admit they knew exactly what they were doing).

        Jay wakes up first, and he finds himself still lying naked next to Carlos, who is snuggled up against his side. He has a pounding headache and he suddenly wishes he hadn't drank so much. He allows himself to admire the mess of Carlos' freckles, the slight muscles on his arms, his perfect pink lips. The other night had been perfect, well it would've been perfect if they had actually been dating. But Jay saw it as it truly was: Two friends using each other. A simple arrangement.

      That fact pleased him but made him angry all at once. He wished things could be different; wished that he could have a real relationship with Carlos. That wasn't possible, not for them. All they knew was hatred; destruction. They only knew secret flings in the middle of the night, with hushed whispers and lies that they weren't fucking four other people behind their back. They wouldn't know how to handle a _real_ relationship. Jay definitely wouldn't. He knew if they tried, it would end with destruction, tears, and utter chaos. Jay didn't want to screw up a perfect friendship over something so greedy; so selfish.

        When Carlos began stirring, Jay quickly shut his eyes, deciding it would be best to avoid the awkward 'the morning after'  situation.  Jay tries to even his breathing and keep his eyelids steady to convince Carlos that he was still asleep. He can feel the bed move as Carlos sits up, and he assumes Carlos still believes he's sleeping.

       Carlos takes a look at Jay, and is relieved to find that he is still sleeping. He tries to keep his gaze from wandering to Jay's naked form, so he quickly jolts up from the bed. He can still feel the stickiness from the night before, can remember everything Jay did to him. Suddenly, it all comes down on him and he feels like he can't breathe.

     " Shit," Jay can hear Carlos state, and Jay stills, wondering what else Carlos might say.

       Carlos grabs at his hair, pulling it helplessly.  He glances at Jay again and then looks around the room, noting the utter mess it was in. " Shit," He states again, this time coming out more broken. More worried.  Jay creases his brows, trying to keep himself from jumping up to speak to Carlos.

        Carlos tries not look at himself in the mirror, but he can't help it. He stares at the array of purple and blue on his neck and shoulders. He can see the bright red marks where Jay's nails  had once been, scraping with greediness. He can remember the way he moaned Jay's name, could still feel the burning in each place Jay had touched him. He finally realized, then. Comprehended fully what they had done.

        What the fuck had they been thinking?

         _Fuck. What the fuck._

         It came crashing down and suddenly Carlos let out a loud sob. He screams angrily, " Fuck!" Then kicks at the dresser, trying to keep his tears at bay. He looks at himself again in the mirror and hates what he sees.

      He quickly decided, if this was what love felt like, he _didn't_ want it.

      His stomach lurched and he made a dash for the bathroom and quickly emptied his stomach.

     All the while, Jay was finding it hard to breathe, too. Was Carlos crying? He was definitely- and oh shit, he was puking too. Jay's stomach was in his throat and his heart was heavy with guilt. What the hell had he done?

      He heard Carlos let out another sob, and he wanted to get up. Wanted to go and wrap his arms around the boy and comfort him and tell him how fucking perfect he was. But he didn't. He knew that'd only make it worse. So, instead he squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the storm to be over. He blocked out the continuous sobs of the boy and the dry heaves, trying not to imagine his broken form laying on the bathroom floor.

     After Carlos' meltdown he was quick to take a shower and dash out of the room. Several minutes after Jay had heard the door close, he allowed himself to open his eyes.

     He threw the covers away from him and didn't even bother to see the damage to his body from the night before. He grabbed a pair of clothes and washed away everything. Washed away the lust, the confusion. He washed it all away and tried to make it nonexistent.  He scrubbed his skin, and screamed when he realized he couldn't scrub away the bruises, and the marks. Reminders, he fucking hated reminders.

      Somewhere in the back of his mind Jay knew they'd never be able to get over this.

**

      People would probably think having sex would make the fake dating situation so much easier, so much believable. But for Jay and Carlos it seemed to do the exact opposite. They were dangerous for each other now. Their lingering touches used to have maybe promises of something more, of something they would probably only ever dream of. But now, those touches actually held something. They could easily turn into something more, and that scared them both.

      They both very nearly regretted having sex, though it had been enjoyable at the time. However, that didn't mean they didn't want to do it again (and again, and again). The touches now made them wanting each other more, made them push the other against the wall, moaning each other's name and gasping for breath in corners of school.  That had already happened twice and it had only been three days since the regrettable night.

      " Don't touch me unless someone important is watching," Jay had told Carlos one day, and it came out harsh, but Jay hadn't meant for it too.

      " Gladly," Carlos snapped back, removing his hand from Jay's.  He wasn't mad at Jay, not entirely, just the whole situation in general.

       They came to an agreement. They had to distance themselves, because they couldn't resist one another at the moment, and they couldn't let that one night happen again. It had only been three days and it nearly destroyed them.

         It was going well until the fifth day, when Mal slammed Jay's locked door shut, a playful look on her face.

         " What, Mal?" Jay sighed, rolling his eyes.     

         " What's up with you and Carlos?"

          Jay stuttered, " N-nothing."

          " Wow, that was a shitty lie. Tell me or I'll have Evie show me in her magic mirror or whatever."

           Jay glared at Mal, teeth clenched together. " Don't fucking try me Mal."

          Mal frowned, but quickly recovered, chuckling lightly." That bad?"

           " It's none of your business, so back off." Jay lowered his voice, trying his best to not yell at Mal who was trying her best to annoy the crap out of him.

          " I'm just trying to help!" Mal snapped, confused at Jay's attitude and the way he wanted to keep something from her. They told each other everything.  " Evie found Carlos crying in the locker room. She tried to help and he told her to fuck off."

         Jay paled, anger clear gone. " What?"

       " Now you want to tell me what's going on?" 

          Jay groaned angrily, running a hand through his hair. " Shit," He muttered, trying to avoid eye contact with Mal. " I thought he was over this."

         " Over what?" Mal frowned, unnerved by the way Jay was pacing.

         " We.." Jay cleared his throat awkwardly, " We had sex Friday night."  
           

            Mal's eyes went wide, and she nearly choked in surprise. " What!" She screeched, almost thinking he was kidding. Because no way, no fucking way.

           " Yeah.." Jay cringed as the words left his mouth, " We were drunk."

          " Jay!" She cocked her head, eyes still wide. She knew they were dumb, but they weren't seriously that dumb. She knew they could handle one night stands with other people, they did it all the time on the Isle. But Jay and Carlos having a one night stand together, with no relationship included, holy fucking shit. She knew they both wanted each other, she could tell when Carlos had turned 13 back on the Isle and Jay was looking at Carlos differently, like he looked at some of the girls, or a piece of jewelry. She even warned him back then, too. Flames, she had said. You'll both go down in flames, and Jay had easily agreed, knowing there could never be something between him and his beautiful blond boy, there would never be.

          Yet, here they were.

            " I know! The next morning, he just started going crazy. Screaming, crying, he even threw up. He went completely crazy and I couldn't help him without sounding like a hypocrite. I thought he was fine, I mean he seemed fine later that day. Normal, I guess?"

              Mal sighed, licking her lips, eyes darting behind Jay to make sure no one was listening. "Have you talked about it?" _No_ , she knew that was the answer. They were from the Isle. They never talked about things like that, so why would they start now?

            Jay kicked at the ground, tugging at his hair again. " No."

         " You're fucked," Mal stated, a dry laugh escaping from her body. She couldn't help it. She laughed during the worst scenarios. She wanted to help them, but she didn't know how

        Jay bit at his cheek, tongue flicking over his teeth nervously.

        " Thanks."


	10. Trust and Be Used

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. Also warning to people who don't like cursing, I dropped the f-bomb a couple times in this chapter. I quickly glimpsed over this, so I'm sorry for any mistakes.

            After his discussion with Mal, Jay had planned on searching the whole school for Carlos and straightening everything out. He was getting so tired of everything being so unnecessarily complicated. Jay was not going to wait any longer to talk to him, because every time they waited too long to talk to each other, bigger fights ensued. So he put on a brave face and stomped quickly through the halls, looking for his best friend.

            He found the boy in the courtyard, and Jay would've smiled if Carlos hadn't been with _him_. Ben's tall frame was standing in front of Carlos and they seemed to be talking about something that was making Carlos laugh, which kudos for Carlos for being happy, but Jay couldn't help but be angry that it was Ben who was making Carlos laugh. Ever since Ben and Mal had broken up, Ben had seemed to take a major liking to Carlos, and though he wouldn't admit it, Ben's little charade around Carlos made Jay's blood boil.

            Jay realized he must've been staring at the pair for a little too long, because when he came out of his daze, he realized Carlos was looking straight at him. Jay tried to smile, showing that he had no ill intent. When he took a step forward, he watched as Carlos frowned and took Ben by the arm, tugging him away. Jay continued to walk towards the pair, because even Ben wasn't going to stop him from fixing things with Carlos.

             Carlos pushed at Ben's back and they seemed to be rushing out of the courtyard. Jay lowered his eyes and watched as the two quickly scurried away.

            "Carlos!" Jay shouted, thinking that _maybe_ the boy hadn't seen him. But he had, because when Jay called his name Carlos turned his head and gave Jay a gruff scowl before turning back around and walking off with Ben.

            Jay bit at his lip angrily to refrain from yelling or shouting something stupid. Why couldn't Carlos just talk to him? Carlos had to know that avoiding the subject was just going to cause more chaos. And the fact that he was involving Ben? That just made the situation ten times worse. Who knows what Carlos had been telling Ben.

            Carlos had told Jay that he didn't like Ben. That it would be too weird, with Mal and everything, but Jay didn't really know if he should believe him. The thought made Jay a little angry, because Carlos was being so stupid by hanging out with Ben. Rumors would start, and they really didn't need that. He knew whatever he was doing with Ben was probably innocent, but just to be sure, he was going to find a way to get Carlos alone without Ben in the way to ruin anything.

            He figured the best person to help him with his issue would be Mal. Not that she would be willing to help, but she would  be the best person to solve it if she did actually agree to help. Jay found her talking in a circle with a group of girls, and if he hadn't been so upset he probably would've taken the time to flirt with each one. But right then, all he could think of was Carlos, and he had to fix whatever he had managed to fuck up.

            When he reached the group he walked behind Mal and roughly latched onto her arm and pulled her away. She made a disgruntled noise and tried to shoo Jay away.

            "What the hell Jay!" She shouted, pushing Jay's hand away from her arm.

            "Sorry, I need your help," Jay made a lame attempt at a smile, and he was met with Mal's famous scowl.

            She scoffed and managed a weak laugh as she responded. "Why would I help you after you rudely shoved me away from a conversation?"

            "Because it has to do with Carlos."

            Mal deadpanned, though she did have the thought of screaming, because holy crap she was _so_ done with their mess. "No."

            "No?" Jay tilted his head in confusion. "But-"

            "I'm done fixing your problems, Jay!" Mal tried to keep her voice down, but couldn't help the raise in octave when she spoke Jay's  name. While she did consider Jay and Carlos as her brothers and in some way she did love them, she couldn't handle fixing another one of their problems; another stint in their 'relationship'.

                "Mal just hear me out, alright?" Jay paused as Mal sighed, crossing her arms over her chest impatiently.

            She sucked in a breath and bit down on her lip. She really didn't want to help, but she found herself saying: "Fine."

            Jay grinned. "All I need, for just a couple hours, is for you to get Ben away from Carlos."

            "What? N-"

            Jay pushed at Mal's shoulders. "Shut up, you said you'd listen. So look, I really need to fix things with Carlos, but it's basically impossible with Ben hanging over him constantly. I just need you to distract him to give me enough time with Carlos."

            Mal nearly growled as she answered, "Alright." She grit out between clenched teeth, forcing a smile onto her lips. "But I'm doing it for Carlos, not for you."

            "Yeah, whatever. So if you could do it by today or tomorrow, that'd be great." Jay looked behind his shoulder as Mal went to speak. Jay turned back around to gaze at Mal quickly. "Don't say anything, I gotta go." He smiled, patting her shoulder as he dashed down the hallway.

            "Jay!" She screeched, startling the group of girls.

**

            It had been extremely difficult to avoid Jay. It wasn't that Carlos was mad at Jay or anything, he was just really confused and filled with anxiety. He knew what Jay wanted to talk about, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear what Jay was going to say. He just wanted one full day of no Jay. A day of no Jay also meant a day of no Mal, and probably a day of no Evie. So, he wasn't left with many options.

            He could've hung out with Jane or Lonnie all day, but Ben had found him first. Even though Ben had been a little weird lately, Carlos still asked him to hang out for the day. Ben tried to ask about Jay, but Carlos was quick to change the subject every time. Everybody didn't need to know what went on in their personal lives; it was already bad enough Evie knew —because that meant Mal probably knew too — and he was really getting tired of that. He wanted, for once, to have something private about his life.

            Ben would try to ask about the Isle too and that was almost worse than asking about Jay.

            "I don't want to talk about that, like at all," Carlos had to finally say when Ben wasn't understanding that Carlos was changing the subject for a reason.

            Ben faltered a moment before smiling lightly, "Oh okay, I get it."

            After that, the rest of the morning had gone pretty well. Ben had slowly learned what was okay and what wasn't okay to talk about, and Carlos found himself actually enjoying himself. They had only saw Jay twice, and Ben never asked once why Carlos had always rushed away after they spotted Jay. It only got a little weird when Mal came up out of nowhere and placed a long kiss onto Ben, without even saying a word before.

             Carlos tumbled behind Ben and stared wide-eyed at the pair. Had Mal forgotten they had broken up? From his view, it sure looked like she had. By the time he had realized he should probably quit staring, they had already broken apart. Mal had a wide suspicious smile on her face and Ben's eyes were a little glazed over, and he was stuttering in confusion.

            Mal took a quick look at Carlos. "Hey, C."

            "Hey.." He responded wearily. She winked at him, and he wondered if he doesn't know something that he is supposed to know. She looked back over at Ben, putting her arm around his  shoulders.

            "Hey Ben," She smiled up at him only confusing Ben and Carlos more.

            "Mal.." Ben began slowly, because what was he supposed to say? He laughed nervously, and Carlos couldn't help but join in. "What are you doing?"

            "I have something to show you," She sounded too chirpy; so unlike herself. Carlos lowered his eyes at her, because she had to be up to something. He knew for a fact two days ago she had been bashing Ben, so what had changed?

            Ben laughed again. "Uh, I'm kinda hanging out with Carlos right now." He gestured frantically towards Carlos who did not lower his suspicious stare at Mal. Mal widened her eyes and jutted out her mouth at Carlos. She was clearly trying to tell him something, but he didn't understand at all. He scrunched up his eyes in confusion and shook his head, telling her he had no clue what she was on about. She rolled her eyes before quickly wiping the frown off her face and smiling back over at Ben.

            "Oh, well this won't take too long. I'm sure Carlos won't mind, right?" She grinned over at Carlos who still looked like a lost puppy. She could feel Ben tense next to her, so she repeats louder, more directed towards Carlos.

            " _Right."_ She gritted out with wide eyes burning holes into Carlos' head. His eyes shifted to the left, and he paused a moment. He thought he knew what she wanted him to do.

            "Uh, yeah. Right. Totally, I have some things I need to do anyways." Carlos agreed and was rewarded with a smile from Mal. So that's what she had wanted, but he still wasn't sure why.

            Ben seems to falter, upset and disappointed in Carlos' remark. "Are you sure?"

            Carlos took a quick glance at Mal. She was glaring, hard. He looked back at Ben, smiling. "Yeah."

            "Okay...Then I guess we should go see whatever you want to show me." Ben broke from Mal's grasp and motioned down the hall.

            "Yup.." She wasn't sure how much time she could buy Jay, but she would try her hardest, for Carlos of course. "Bye, Carlos."

            "Bye." His hand rose in a weak wave and he waited a moment for them to leave before turning around and starting down the hall in the opposite direction.

**

            Carlos finds himself at Evie and Mal's dorm. He had been heading to his and Jay's dorm, but on his way he had nearly rammed head first into Jay. Jay hadn't spotted him so Carlos had grasped onto the wall and pulled himself into the other direction as he nearly tripped over his own feet. It made him look like a fool, but he thought it'd be better than speaking to Jay about the whole sex thing. He was happy with forgetting it — okay, maybe he didn't really want to forget it, but they had to,— but he also knew that Jay..Jay was not going to want to drop it.

            Carlos rapidly knocked on the door, afraid that Jay would walk through the hall at any moment. (His anxiety was at a ridiculous level). When there was no answer, he opted to kick his foot at the base of the door, hoping the rattling of his shoe hitting the wood would be more annoying than the pounding of his fist.

            "Evie, if you're in there, open up!" Carlos shouted frantically. Within seconds the door was yanked open and he was met with an angry scowl from Evie.

            "Goodness, Carlos! Is somebody dying? Like, seriously. Calm down sweetie."                     

            "Sorry," He mumbled, walking into the room and shutting the door behind him. He gazed around the room; for some reason he had been expecting to see Mal, forgetting that he had seen her nearly ten minutes ago with Ben.

            "What's up?" Evie asked as Carlos got settled into a chair.

            He wasn't really sure. He had just wanted to get away. He racked his brain for something to tell the blue haired girl, who was smiling at him. "Do you know if Mal wants to get Ben back?" Yeah, that was a good place to start.

            Evie lets out a loud laugh, and Carlos already knows the answer: No.

            "Are you kidding? Last night she told me how much she wanted to set him on fire." Evie laughed again, and Carlos' frown only got larger.

            "Oh."

            Evie stops laughing at his meek response and she noted the way he looked severely confused.   
"Why? Did something happen, or..?"

            "It was weird, Ben and I were talking and all of a sudden she just laid one on him. For like a good minute, too."

            "What!" Evie jumped from her seat.

            "Yeah...she was acting really shifty. She kept eyeing at me, like there was some secret I was supposed to know. Do you know anything about that?"

            "Hmm," She tilted her head as she tried to think of a list of things Mal had told her in the past couple of days. "Nope."— Wait.— Evie paused... _Jay._ That little witch! When Mal had told her she needed to distract Ben, she hadn't thought she'd go to such drastic measures. G-R-O-S-S.

            "Oh okay." Carlos played with the hem of his shorts and looked around the room aimlessly. Evie watched him curiously. She knew something was off; something was wrong, but she wasn't sure if she should bring it up. Maybe he just needed to cuddle and watch a movie? But then again, he probably did need to talk about whatever was bothering him, because knowing Carlos he would kill himself inside until his bottled up emotions were let out.

            "Hey, Carlos.." Evie began slowly, "Is there any other reason you came in here?" She paused. "Just to talk about Mal or...someone else?"

            Carlos cracked a smile as he scooted himself further up in his chair. "You suck at being discreet, E."

            "Yeah, I know," She sang as she let out a soft chuckle. "But really, do you want to talk about.."

            "Jay?" Carlos finished for her. No was the answer in his head. But he really did need to get some things off his chest.

            "Yeah. Have you talked to him?" She wasn't sure if she was supposed to bring it up or not, but finding Carlos in a sobbing mess had left her feeling distraught for the rest of the day. She just wanted to help him, so hopefully he would let her.

            Carlos nodded no weakly. He continued to pick at his shorts as he worked up the courage to talk about Jay with Evie. After a moment of silence he let everything out. He told Evie about the alcohol Jay had brought back, and he ignored the disapproving face Evie was trying hard to mask. Slowly he made his way into the whole sex story and he worked his way quickly through that one, because it was already awkward enough just thinking about it; plus he had already given Evie a short synopsis of it in the bathroom. Afterwards, he then told her how he had been avoiding Jay all day, something he was sure was going to make Evie yell at him. When he finished speaking, Evie opened her mouth and shut it quickly. Carlos figured she was scared she'd say the wrong thing.

            "Okay..so why did that night freak you out so much?" Evie had an idea, but she wanted Carlos to say it for himself. If he said it aloud, then maybe he could accept it easier.

            "The next morning, when I was sobered up..and hung over,  I had this sudden realization, and it was terrifying."

            Evie leaned in closer to Carlos, "And what was that realization?"

             Carlos seemed hesitant in his answer, but he managed to get it out after a few seconds. "That what if... I don't know? What if Jay had just used me for fun—y'know?"

            "Carlos!" Evie chastised, frowning. Sure, Jay had done some low things, but he wouldn't do them to Carlos. At least, Evie didn't think he would.

            Carlos jumps startled at Evie's outburst. "It's true!" He yelled, because she had to know it was. "I mean he's _Jay_ , Evie."

            "But he wouldn't do that, not to you."

            "We don't know that." Carlos' voice was shaky. It was a little weird to hear his thoughts aloud. To share them with someone else was a little terrifying, because it made the whole thing even more real.    

            "Okay, I don't mean to sound like a bitch, but aren't you being a little hypocritical? I mean it would be terrible if he had just used you for fun, but aren't you using him too?" It was true, and she thought maybe it was worse because he had used Jay first. She knew it hit Carlos hard because he had immediately paled at the sudden realization.

            Evie continued to stare at the pale boy, his eyes flicking relentlessly around the room; mind working overtime. She wasn't sure if he was going to answer. For a moment she wondered if maybe she shouldn't have said what she did, but it had been the truth. It was about time he realized it, anyways. During the prolonged silence and awkward stare off, she noticed a leather chain with a moon pendant hanging from it on Carlos' chest. With her and her obsession with accessories , she couldn't help but get distracted. It was a cute necklace, and she wondered if Jay had stolen it for him. In all honesty, she kinda wanted one too.

            "Hey Carlos," She found herself saying. "Where'd you get that necklace?"  

            Carlos blinked, hand lazily reaching for the leather around his neck. He looked curiously down at it and before thinking mumbled out, "Jane."

            Evie tilted her head curiously. "Oh?" She gazed at it for a little while longer before speaking. Why would he be wearing something from _Jane._ "And when did she give it to you?"

            "I dunno.." He bit at his lip nervously. "A week or two ago? I don't know honestly."

            "Interesting.." She chewed on the bottom of her lip as she thought about it. He seemed to be answering her questions easily enough, so why not ask more? "Why'd she give it to you?"

            "As, a, uh—an apology present? Yeah, she said she was sorry for acting crazy and stuff, then she gave me this." He twisted the charm between his thumb and pointer finger and Evie noticed he was trying really hard not to make eye contact with her.

            "So you're on good terms now?"

            "Mhmm.." He still wouldn't look at her.

            "Does Jay know?"

            Carlos looked up at that; his eyes glazed over with an unknown fear. "No."

            "Carlos.." She warned and he sunk down deeper into his chair. "Why? You need to tell him, so you can quit your little fake arrangement, or whatever you're calling it."

            "I can't." He was chewing on his lip now, and Evie was positive he'd bite right through it. "I don't want to." He seemed to cringe, and Evie understood then. She completely understood.

            "Oh Carlos." She sighed. "You like him, don't you?"

            Carlos seemed to  break down at the question as he let out a quiet, shaky sob. "Yeah." He takes a breath, trying to regain his composure. "And it's the worst feeling ever, Evie! I can't..I can't handle it. I don't know how to handle it! I don't know how Mal did it...I mean she handled it but she obviously didn't handle it well enough otherwise her and Ben would still be together. And not only do I have really strong feelings for someone, I have strong feelings for Jay, my best fucking friend. Do you know how screwed up that is?"

            "Carlos.." Evie began before quickly realizing Carlos was ranting and hadn't planned on stopping anytime soon. He had stood from the chair and had began pacing around the room.

            "And with this fake arrangement...it's the closest thing I'll get, alright? Anything realer than this will screw everything up. That's why it hurts so much, to know that Jay is probably just using me for a good time, not because he actually likes me. And it hurts even more that my brain tells me that's okay, because I still get to be with him, even if it's fake. I just...I don't know what to do. I don't."

            Evie quickly made her way over to Carlos' shaking form and grasped at his shoulders. "Sweetie." She smiled. "You need to talk to him. Maybe not about everything, but at least about that one night. That way you can know. Otherwise, if you keep hiding these secrets, you're just going to dig yourself into a deeper hole, and we both know how hard those are to get out of."

            "I..I can't."

            "You can." She shook his shoulders gently. "Carlos, this may be Jay we're talking about, but he cares about you more than any of the girls he has ever hooked up with. I'm sure he had no cruel intentions. If he did, I promise I'll be the first one to place my fist onto his face, alright? But Carlos, you need to talk to him." She watched as Carlos nodded slowly, though she was almost positive he was only doing it to shut her up. "Have you ever thought that maybe Jay is having these type of thoughts too? That in some way it's probably screwing his life up as well?"

            "No, I haven't." Carlos mumbled. "I guess that kinda makes me a douche."

            "No, it just means you have been way too stressed. Go talk to him, C."         

            Carlos sucked in a big breath of air, breaking free from her grasp. "Okay, I will."

**

            He should not have made that promise with Evie. He gave himself a pep talk all the way down the hallway back to his and Jay's dorm, but once he opened the door, his courage was completely gone. Instead of talking, like he had promised to do, he decided he could stall by promptly kissing Jay. He had shut the door loudly and quickly, walked straight up to Jay, grabbed at the back of his shirt and kissed him. Jay was confused, but quickly placed his hands onto Carlos' sides and returned the kiss greedily. It had been nearly five days, and they had both missed it.

            When they pulled apart, Jay looked at the boy curiously. "What was that for?"

            "I don't know. Practice?"  Jay scoffed at that, and Carlos didn't blame him. It was a stupid response.

            "Where've you been all day?" Jay asked curiously, though he knew the answer.

            Carlos cleared his throat, taking a step back from the tall boy in front of him. "Out."

            Jay laughed, "Yeah, I figured as much. I just meant with who?"

            Carlos lowered his eyes in confusion but replied anyways. "With Ben and then Evie."

            "Oh," Jay said coolly. "Kinda missed you, with your annoying facts every five seconds, y'know?"

            The comment stung a little, but he knew it was just a usual, stupid sarcastic response from his best friend who he was currently falling for.  "Wow, that was almost nice. But um, I missed you too?" Carlos cringed at his own response.

            Jay grinned and he reached over to ruffle Carlos' hair, which needed a little messing up. " Yeah, I've been working on that." When Jay felt Carlos tense under his arm, Jay was quick to move away.

            Carlos scratched at his face awkwardly while biting down on his tongue, having an internal battle on whether or not he should bring up their hook up night.

            "Um, I was thinking maybe we should talk about that-" Jay began for Carlos, as if he had been reading the younger boy's mind.

            _Nope._ Carlos' mind screamed. He nearly leaped from his spot and latched onto Jay, attacking his lips again. He thought he was ready to talk about it, but he wasn't. He totally was not ready to possibly lose Jay.

            As Carlos' body launched into Jay's, the thief stumbled as he gripped Carlos' arm. He made a noise in the back of his throat as Carlos quickly nipped at his bottom lip, hands gliding everywhere. Jay frowned against Carlos, though he returned the kiss. Carlos was acting a little weird, but Jay was not one to deny a kiss.

            When Carlos pulled back, he had planned on going back in, but Jay turned his head laughing. "I want to talk about that night, C. You think we could?"

            "Not now,"Carlos mumbled against the crook of Jay's neck. He lifted his head and captured Jay's lips again, but this time Jay did not return it, at least not for as long as before. Jay gave the boy a quick peck before pulling back.

            "Carlos!" He knew the boy was trying to distract him, and he was slightly angry that it was starting to work. He lowered his eyes at the boy, who was chewing on his swollen lips nervously. Jay breathed heavily, repeating his name again.

            "We need-" Jay began when Carlos' eyes met his, but then he stopped when his eyes wandered over a necklace around Carlos' neck. He studied it quickly, wondering if it was the one he had given him. When he realized it had a pendant on it, he knew it wasn't his own. Who was it from then? It was probably from _Ben._ God, he sounded like a jealous boyfriend.

            "What?" Carlos asked, curious as to why Jay had stopped midsentence.

            "Where'd you get that?" Jay's eyes motioned towards Carlos' chest and Carlos' heart plummeted and he suddenly wanted to rip away from Jay's grip.

            _Shit._ He had forgotten to take the stupid thing off.

            He gulped nervously, because what was he supposed to say? His first thought had been to lie, but then Evie's stupid voice of digging himself into a deeper hole squirmed its way into his mind, and he decided against it; sadly enough. His mouth seemed too dry as he struggled to stutter out, "Jane."

            "What? Jane gave it to you? Ew, dude."

            "Yeah," He laughed nervously.

            "It's a good look and all for you, but um, why are you wearing it, since it's from Jane and all?"

            God, he wanted to lie. It had gotten so easy to lie through his fucking teeth that he had to squeeze his nails into his palm to force the truth out. "She apologized.." He paused, squeezing his nails tighter into his skin while taking a much needed breath of air, "And I forgave her.."

            "Woah!" Jay stumbled away from Carlos. "You _forgave_ her?" His voice was dripping with disgust and Carlos felt like crying. "I'm sorry, but do you not remember what she did to you?"

            "You mean, what she _tried_ to do." Bigger cringe, Carlos had not meant for _that_ to come out.

            "Carlos, Jesus Christ dude! She tried to force herself onto you, and you still forgave her! What the hell!"

            "She fucking apologized, Jay!" Carlos yelled, and he wasn't sure why he was standing up for her, but it wasn't like it was a huge deal anyways.

            "It doesn't matter—"Suddenly something dawned on him and he glared at Carlos, voice loud and accusing. " _Wait,_ exactly when were you going to tell me this?"

            Carlos paled at that, and he found that his palms were sweaty. "I don't...um," Shit, he sucked at thinking up excuses.

            "When did this happen, Carlos!" Jay shouted finally, and Carlos clenched his fists harder as he backed away from Jay. He had never been on the receiving side of Jay's anger before, at least not like this.

            "A week or..two ago..I don't know. I don't know." Carlos' voice was low, and he wished Jay's would mirror his. Instead, Jay was pacing the room as his voice boomed onto the walls. This is not how Carlos had wanted the night to go.

            Jay nearly growls as he kicks at the ground angrily, and turns to face Carlos. His anger seems to drain as he looks at Carlos and it's quickly replaced with disappointment and maybe some slight betrayal.

            He walks quickly up to Carlos and tries not to shout, "So you've been lying to me this whole time?"

            God, Jay had never felt more fucking used in his entire life.


	11. Please, Don't Say Those Words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI LOVELIES. Wow I took a major hiatus, but here we are! I'm extremely sorry for the wait, if anyone of y'all were actually waiting BUT YAY HELLO WONDERFUL STUPID CHAPTER, It was written quickly and on a whim, but I hope you enjoy.

            "God, Carlos. I _trusted_ you! I thought I was helping you out, protecting you in some way, but you were just using me this whole time? Have you even been telling the truth?" Jay had so many questions, so many emotions, because out of all people, he did not expect Carlos to be the one to use him, just like every other person had back on the Isle.

            "Oh, that's so not fair!" Carlos shouted, laughing angrily as he clenched his hands by his sides.

            "What's not fair? Care to elaborate, C?" His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but the fact that Carlos was _laughing_ pissed him the hell off.

            "Don't act like you're mister perfect. You've been using me just as much as I've been using you."

            "I'm sorry, _what?_ " Jay's voice drops low. His eyes lower and he takes a dangerous step forward, bewildered by Carlos' accusation.

            Carlos knew that had been the wrong thing to say. It had definitely been the wrong thing to say, because he wasn't even positive Jay had been using him, and god if he was wrong, he was in for one hell of an argument.

            "Yeah, Jay." Carlos laughs again, and he's not sure why, because none of this is remotely funny, but he just can't stop. "I'm not the one who initiates make out sessions when there's no one around. The whole point of this stupid thing was for everyone else to see us. So tell me, Jay. What was the point of manhandling me in a closet, where no one can see us? Aside for your own personal enjoyment, What. Was. The. Fucking. Point?"

            Carlos doesn't know why he's letting himself yell at Jay. He doesn't know why he let this turn into a fight. It didn't surprise him, because everything turned into a fight with them, but he had hoped, that maybe this time it would be different.

            "Fuck you, Carlos," Jay growls after a quick beat, and Carlos wants to feel threatened, wants to stop this before it gets more out of hand, but his damn mouth couldn't stay shut, no matter how hard he tried.

            "Oh yeah, fuck me." Carlos laughed, "You're just bitchy because I caught you and you can't defend yourself." When Jay doesn't respond immediately, Carlos laughs again, loud and twisted, tainted with anger.

            The tension in the air only seemed to get thicker. The two of them were circling each other, as if preparing to pounce with fists at any moment. Carlos didn't want to fight. Jay didn't want to fight, either. But that was the thing about Carlos. Once you got him going, he couldn't stop, he never could, and Jay wished that he could learn to not respond when Carlos got the way he did.

            Jay wonders how this happened. How Carlos managed to turn this on him; managed to paint him as the villain and blame him when Carlos had been the one lying the entire time. It hits him, then, as he watches Carlos laugh, concentrates on the way Carlos' eyes are wide, filled with the same dark laughter flowing from his mouth; The way Carlos won't stop yelling for the death of him and is pushing the blame away from him. He's his mother. In the way he walks, the way he laughs at things that should never be laughed at, and all the yelling and the need to always put someone down in order to feel superior, all Jay saw was Cruella. He knows it's not Carlos' fault, she is the one who raised him after all. Once he realizes it, this similarity, he wants to use it against Carlos. To yell it right in his face, and tell him the one thing he never wanted to hear, that he was his mother. Then Jay would win this fight. But he'd also lose something—someone— else, too. It doesn't stop him from contemplating it, though.

            Jay knew he was a shitty person. But not that shitty, at least not today. So, instead of taking those words that could do so much damage to the already broken boy in front of him, he bites his tongue and forces the demons inside his head screaming at him to just fucking say it, far away. This arguing was going to get them nowhere, and he knew if someone was to stop the fight, it would have to be himself.

            "Alright," Jay finally says, voice shaky, fighting back the urge to hurl the insults swirling in his mind, right at Carlos. "We both need to calm down. We won't get anywhere with us yelling back and forth. When we've both calmed down, we can explain what this whole mess is. But we need to stop right now, before we say something we'll regret."

            "Too late."

            "Carlos," Jay warned, pleading for him to just give it a rest. "We both know we don't mean anything we say when we argue, but we need to leave each other alone for right now. You know that."

            Carlos gnaws at his lip and Jay can sense the urge in Carlos to continue yelling, to continue hurling insults that will help Carlos repair his heart by hurting one of the few people he cares about in order to feel better about himself. Jay never understood that about him. How putting down other people, making them feel like shit, could make himself feel better. Carlos and Mal got along that way, they both hurt people to make themselves happy, it was the only thing they truly understood about each other. So Jay watches as Carlos squeezes his nails into his palms and rocks onto each leg, as if he might leap forward and attack at any moment. He watches as Carlos fights to end this, to be stronger than before and to become a better person. After several long minutes, his body seems to deflate, and the anger escapes from his eyes and is flooded back in with a defeated sadness.

            "Okay," Carlos agreed, releasing his hands from their fisted position. "I shouldn't have yelled."

            Jay nods. He gets what he's trying to say: "I'm sorry". Jay doesn't want to forgive him, afraid that if those words: "You're Forgiven" are spoken, Carlos will misunderstand and think that Jay forgives him for lying and deceiving him. Because Jay wasn't going to forgive Carlos for that. He had never been this angry with Carlos, and he was surprised at himself for being so well composed.

            "Well?" Carlos asks, and Jay shifts his eyes in confusion.

            "Well what?" Jay snapped accidentally. He cringed inwardly at himself as he watched the frown form back onto Carlos' freckled face, anger quickly seeping back into the boys' features.

            Carlos stands there silently, gazing at Jay like he should know. He sighs in annoyance and stares Jay down harder, flexing his jaw as he waits for Jay to understand whatever the hell he is trying to communicate. Carlos cocks his head and licks his lips, keeping his eyes focused on Jay's and Jay feels awkward as hell, because he has no idea what the hell Carlos wants him to say. When Jay's eyes shift to the left far too many times, Carlos gives up, rubbing at his temple as he starts for the door.

            "I guess we'll talk later." And then he's gone.

            **

            Carlos hadn't been mad at Jay. Yes, he had been terrified when Jay had spotted the necklace because he had been caught, but he hadn't been mad, not initially. What pissed him off and bothered him so badly was the fact that Jay had the nerve to claim that Carlos had been the one doing all the using. Did Carlos know he was using Jay? Absolutely. Did he feel bad? Sometimes. But was he the one doing all the using? Hell to the fucking no. If he had to admit it, then Jay did too. If Jay would just freaking admit it, then Carlos would be fine. But Jay had to go and pretend like everything they had been through in the past months hadn't happened, and that hurt the most. Jay had to go and play the victim, when really, they were both the victims in their twisted game. And now, he realized, all he wanted to do was talk with Jay, to get these damn tricky emotions out, but he also didn't even feel like going within ten feet of the thief with the ridiculously long hair.

            So they both do what they do best: avoid each other. It's not in a childish way, because when they happen to pass each other in the hall they do acknowledge the other with a small wave or shy smile, but they're distancing themselves to calm down. It's a long weekend, and Jay can't bother to care if he gets in trouble for sleeping on the floor for the weekend in Mal and Evie's room. All he knows is that he doesn't want to sleep in the same room as Carlos, because all he needs for the weekend is to get his thoughts together, and then they can sort it out. Mal and Evie don't say anything about it. They let him sleep on the floor with open arms and they try to keep the talk about Carlos to a minimum.

            When Mal and Evie do finally ask why him and Carlos had a falling out, Jay tells them Carlos lied. When they ask Carlos the same question, Carlos shrugs his shoulders and says he doesn't want to talk about it. They don't ask any more questions after that, no matter how much Mal wants to bug them about it. Evie thinks it's a little hard to deal with, because they can't hang out with Jay and Carlos at the same time, which she thinks is utterly ridiculous. But she supposed it could be worse. Jay could be ranting about Carlos, or vice versa, and they could be causing fights instead of the casual five word conversation they start up every time they accidentally bump into each other. Evie finds that funny. No matter how hard they desperately try to avoid one another, they always ended up together.  

            "I don't understand, why don't you just talk to Carlos and get it over with?" Mal huffed as she gazed across the cafeteria, watching Evie talk intently with Carlos. Her eyes lingered as she watched Carlos laugh, and then her eyes snap back to Jay as he spoke.

            "I'm not ready to forgive him yet," Jay grumbled as he poked at his food with his fork. Mal looked back up at Evie and Carlos as they laughed again. She had a feeling they were having a much better time than her and Jay.

            Mal bites her lip in frustration and watches Jay curiously. She would never understand the two boys. How they could turn such a simple thing into an over dramatic play that seemed to last months, she would never know.

            "Well, I think that's stupid," Mal admitted, smirking as Jay snapped his eyes up at her, glaring hard.

            "Great, Mal. I don't remember asking."

            "Yeah, you sorta did when you made such a stupid comment. I mean, how can you even know what you're," she raises her fingers dramatically, " 'forgiving' him for, if he didn't even get to tell you what actually happened? You can't forgive him for something that you _think_ happened."

            Jay clenches his jaw and rolls his eyes, sighing dramatically. She was right, in a sense, but Carlos had lied. Carlos didn't need to tell him the story for him to understand that aspect. Maybe it was wrong of him to assume he had been using him, but he had been lying.

            "Whatever, Mal." Jay's eyes shifted uncomfortably, and a long silence filled afterwards. She analyzed his face carefully, watching the way his eyes continued to shift as his eyebrows seemed to be scrunched in concentration. She had hooked and reeled. He was going to talk to him, she just knew it.

            Mal smirked, leaning back in her chair, eyes gleaming with her victory. Her job had been done, now she hoped Evie would be just as successful.

            **

            "C, I know he said some mean things. Like, you've told me the story about five times now, and I get that he was being totally unfair, but babe, Carlos, wouldn't it just be so much better to relieve this stress? Get this off of your chest and prove that you aren't the bad guy. I know you're not a bad guy, Carlos, and if you go and talk to him and just explain, he'll realize it was just a huge misunderstanding." Evie smiled as she propped her head onto her hand, elbow on table. Carlos laughed when Evie smiled, but he knew what she was trying to do.

            "I dunno, Eve. He probably won't even let me explain." Carlos played with the hem of his shirt, and missed the frown Evie gave as she quickly thought of something else to latch him on.

            "Well, if you try, and he doesn't let you explain, then we know he has been a douche all along, and it will save you so much heartbreak in the long run, right?" Evie cringed at her words, knowing Jay was not even close to a douche. But sadly, at this point she was so desperate to reconcile the two boys that she would say anything to just get them to shut up and stop moping around. It had only been three days and she felt as if she would lose her mind, and she was getting really tired of tripping over Jay every morning.

            Carlos scratches at his neck, and smiles lightly. "I guess you're right."

            Evie pops up from her slouched position, hair bouncing off her shoulders in waves. "Of course I am!"

            "Oh, be quiet," Carlos laughed, shoving her shoulder.

             **

            Evie is dragged out of the cafeteria by a highly energized Mal. "Did you do it?"

            "I think so," Evie replies.

            Mal squeals, "Oh thank God."

            The two hurry off, as to not be spotted by Jay or Carlos.

             **

            Jay doesn't know if he should be doing this, but he doesn't give himself time to think on it. Once he's down the hallway, he barges into his room. He stumbles in, tripping over clothes that were thrown haphazardly on the floor. Carlos whips around at the sound of the door and Dude barking, startled by the sudden intrusion. When Carlos' eyes land on Jay, and Jay's on Carlos, they both manage to blurt out "We need to talk."

            An awkward laughter fills the air after that, and Jay scratches at the back of his neck. "You should go first." Jay motioned towards Carlos.

            "Oh, okay." Carlos stuttered, and his mind seemed to go blank. "Um, so I did really accidentally tell Jane I was dating you in order to make her leave me alone. And for about a month she was still pestering me about it. Then, um, two-ish weeks ago, I think? I don't know, but, yeah, she just sorta came up to me and apologized for everything, and I just, forgave her, I guess."

            "You guess?"

            "Yeah." Carlos shrugs.

            Jay doesn't say anything for a minute, pondering what he should say. Carlos just admitted to lying, he knows that, but he also doesn't want to get into another fight, so he settles for, "Why did you forgive her?" Jay paused, and then continued quickly after,"I mean, not that, I mean...I'm not trying to ask in an aggressive way...just curious." His heart was beating out of his chest, and he could barely speak, afraid that he might say the wrong thing and set Carlos off.

            The question seems to catch Carlos off guard as he slouches slightly. "I guess..." He begins, and then stops. "I wanted...needed a new friend. Someone else to confide in besides you and Mal and Evie, and she was offering, and then she gave me a gift, and I don't know. I just needed a friend, and at the moment she apologized I just sorta forgot about what she had done because I realized she could potentially be my friend..?"

            Jay was hurt by the comment, but he also understood. Sometimes he wished he had other people to talk to, too. "So why didn't you tell me she wasn't pining after you anymore?" The question was hesitant and tension seemed to fill the air again.

            "I don't know." Carlos laughed, because they both knew the answer. "Maybe the same reason you agreed to help me? Why you drag me into closets to kiss me countless times when no one is watching?" The words got caught in his throat, but once they were out, he felt as if a weight had been lifted.

            Jay blushes at that, but then he laughs, because yeah, that was exactly it. His laugh comes out dry and humorless almost, and he responds, "Yeah," as he takes his beanie off of his head and rakes his hands through his hair, "Yeah," he says again, and this time Carlos chortles, kicking at the ground. Because, in their own way, they both just admitted it; everything they had been feeling and hiding.

            "We're fucked," Jay admitted, and he said it as a statement, and god, Carlos couldn't agree more.

            Carlos looked at Jay, quickly admiring the laugh lines gracing his face, and responds again, almost breathlessly. "Yep." He licks his lips. "Have been for a while." And _god_   he wants to kiss him right then and there. And he laughs when the thought enters his mind because that would prove that, yes, they have been fucked way before this _thing e_ ven started.  

            Jay doesn't know what to do, because now they're both standing in the middle of the room, laughing nervously like idiots, after admitting something without specifically even saying the words, but he knows, and here they are, like fucking idiots, because they can't even say it correctly. And that's a problem, and he realizes that, and so before he knows it, he's saying something that he hadn't even really wanted to say.

            "So, I guess...since Jane isn't after you now, we can stop pretending and go do what...or whoever we want?" When the words leave his mouth Jay wants to slap himself in the face. He can tell it shocks Carlos because his mouth opens slightly before closing immediately as his body seems to go rigid.

            "Yeah." Carlos nodded his head. "We can go do what, or.. whoever we want." He laughs dryly, hands shoved roughly in his pockets.

            Jay cringes as his mouth deceives him and speaks, "Okay, cool."


	12. Give Me Fries, Give Me Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, because of descendants 2 I have decided to finish this story! After this chapter there is one more and then hopefully it'll be finished. Also this might have errors because I didn't want to proofread.

Jay briskly walked out into the hallway, going to Evie's and Mal's dorm. He tried to regain his composure as he walked as fast as his legs would carry him. Once he reached their room, he roughly opened the door and entered in the room without saying a word. Mal who was sitting on the chair reading, looked up at Jay with confusion.

"What’s your problem?" She asked with a little laugh; he only glared at her.

"Is it about him?" Asked Evie who was now in front of Jay; she always seemed to know what the problem was. Jay answered with a simple glare. "So that's a yes.." She added pouting a bit by Jay’s hostility.

 "Mind telling us what happened ?" Asked Mal, putting her book on the table, feeling a bit concerned. Truthfully, she was hoping this drama between the two of them would end soon.

Jay shook his head while pressing his fists together. "He told me the truth and I forgave him, now our fake arrangement is over." Jay said, his voice was filled with disappointment.

"You see, we told you! Everything is alright now Jay!" Claimed Mal smiling, but Jay was frowning. "I mean, I know you don’t think it is, but Jay…" Mal hadn’t meant to sound so uncaring. She also didn’t expect Jay to develop these type of feelings.  He had never been the type to feel this way about someone. Jay just looked away. “Jay…” Evie couldn't say anything, she had run out of ideas and she didn’t want to say something wrong.

"Jay.." Mal patted his shoulder, "It was all fake, remember? It’s probably in you two’s best interest to end it. I mean, it would never last long, and I don’t mean that rudely. It’s just your two personalities clash so heavily and all you ever do is argue and then make out, and then argue again! So, don't be frustrated over it, you two are right to not enter a relationship that would risk to take the both of you apart if something goes wrong." Jay glared again and his sad expression only grew bigger.

 "I know...but..we could have tried ..?" He said feeling numb by everything that was happening. “And it wasn’t all fake, Mal. We all know that.” He didn’t know what he was supposed to feel. He should’ve been happy that all this chaos and drama was coming to an end, but he couldn’t help but feel angry and sad and every other emotion except for happiness.

"Ok, yeah, it obviously stopped being fake a while ago, but I still don’t think it’ll work. I don’t think you two would’ve been able to handle an ideal relationship. I mean, with all the flirting with girls, and for Carlos and all the insults from the others students. It seems like too much struggle to try to attempt. You two can’t help but complicate things, so surely you’d complicate your relationship. You already tried, and we can see it didn’t end up well. Why would you want to try it again?" Mal didn’t mean to sound like a pessimist, but it was hard not to be one with the way she was raised and with the way Jay and Carlos had been acting for the past weeks. She was already sad and stressed out enough for her two friends and she didn’t want anything else bad to happen.

“Okay, no,” Evie interjected, scoffing heavily. “Mal, stop talking. Jay, stop listening to her.”

“Evie!” Mal shouted, looking at her incredulously. Of course, Evie would be the one to still try to make Carlos and Jay happen.

“Seriously, you and Carlos seem to like each other a lot.” Jay nodded at this. Evie smiled. “Okay, see great! So, try it. Wipe the slate clean and start the relationship as if you guys have never kissed, or touched, or anything. Leave the lies behind you. And yeah it’s going to be a struggle, especially handling the way you flirt so much—“

“Hey, I—“ Jay interjected quickly.

“Yeah you flirt a lot, Jay. Don’t interrupt me. Anyways, as I was saying, it’ll be a bit of a struggle with your two personalities but you two can figure it out. Every relationship has its struggles. It’s not going to be perfect, you just have to want to work for it.” Evie squeezed Jay’s arm lightly, smiling. “And _Mal_ needs to stop talking because she gives horrible advice.”

“I do not!” Evie rolled her eyes at her friends’ outburst.

“Well Jay?”

Jay rubbed his hand over his face and groaned loudly. “That was beautiful, Evie, really. But I still don’t know if I want to work that much to be in a relationship with Carlos. It’s been really hard the past few weeks.”

“Okay, then I don’t know what to tell you! You’re a mess, Jay. Ok, you know what, I’m gonna go talk to Carlos,” Evie said, pushing Jay slightly as she spun around to dash for the door.

“What? No, don’t—“ Jay reached out in a poor attempt to stop her, but by the time he had worked up the energy to move his body to the other side of the room, Evie was already gone.

Mal looked at the door and then back at Jay, looking extremely bored. “Sooo, are you going to go stop her?”

Jay was quiet for a moment and then a quick, “Nope.”

* * *

 

Carlos had finally regained his composure after getting out a good cry, and a few screams. This whole thing was stupid and he should’ve never asked Jay to do it. But, if Jay wanted to move on to other people, then Carlos would follow suit. There were tons of guys—okay maybe not tons, but there were at least three— who had asked him on occasion if he wanted to hook up or go on a date. He didn’t need Jay or the complications that came with him. With this thought, his fingers played with the rope of the necklace Jay had given him and he ripped it off carefully, and placed it down. He left the one from Jane on, cause y’know, gotta make a statement. Plus, Jane hadn’t wronged him so he didn’t want to be rude and take it off.

Right after Carlos placed the necklace down, he was startled as his door slammed open and a dash of blue came bounding inside.

“Hello my stupid _stupid_ best friend.” Evie  practically tackled Carlos into a hug and then quickly pulled away, placing her hands on his shoulders as she stared at him intently.

Carlos chuckled nervously. “Uh hi, and why am I stupid, exactly?” Evie lowered her eyes at him, as if to tell him, “you know what I’m talking about”. Carlos stared at her back, latching onto one of her arms as he swayed awkwardly. “So are you gonna tell me or are we just gonna stand here staring at each other in silence?”

“Oh, right! So I heard that you and Jay decided to call off the fake relationship and not _pursue a real one!”_ Evie’s voice raised as her sentence went on, and she used her hand that was already placed on his shoulder, to push him away roughly. He stumbled back as his eyes went wide.

“Jay already told you? It’s only been like an hour!”

“Yeah, that should show you how upset he is about this!” Evie followed as Carlos sat down on his bed, promptly playing with the bed sheets.

“Yeah, well just because we’re both upset doesn’t mean it wasn’t for the best. We came to an agreement. We’re ending it,” Carlos paused for a moment, as if contemplating something, “For now, anyways.”

“For now?” Evie asked hopeful. Carlos continued to play with the sheets as he spoke.

“Yeah, I mean, we should call it off, but who knows, maybe in a few months we can try again and it’ll be better.” A small smile formed on his face and Evie squealed in delight.

“Seriously? Oh that’s so great! At least one of you have some sense in you!” Carlos couldn’t help but laugh as Evie engulfed him in a huge side hug

* * *

Mal had hated eating in the school cafeteria at first. It made her sick to realize that while they were getting scraps on the Isle and struggling to find food, the ‘good kids’ were getting to eat these huge heaps of food. In her opinion, there was just too much food here in Auradon. She’d eat her food and then realize that what was left on her plate or what was left in the little buckets in the food line was going to get sent to the Isle. In an odd way eating in the cafeteria continued the small inkling of hate she had for Auradon. Plus, it was way too loud and everyone was always so happy.

 However, it seemed to be the only time she could sit down with all her friends and have a decent conversation.  

As if on cue, Evie and Carlos walked over to the table, food in hand. “I’m still not used to eating all this food,” Carlos grumbled as he placed his plate on the table and sat next to Mal.

“Are you seriously complaining about the fact that we now have food?” Evie laughed as she sat across from Mal and Carlos.

“No, it’s just weird. I mean, a good weird, but still weird,” Carlos mumbled as he grabbed a fry. Before anyone could agree or disagree, Jay came over and took his usual spot next to Evie.

“What’s weird?” He asked as he snatched a fry off of Carlos’ plate and threw it into his mouth. Mal and Evie tensed slightly as they eyed the two, curious as to what was going to happen since they had been split for just a few days.

“You,” Carlos retorted as he smacked Jay’s hand away as he tried to steal another fry. “These are mine.” Mal had expected an edge of hostility in his voice, but there was none. She wasn’t positive, but she almost thought there was a playfulness in Carlos’ tone.

“Haha,” Jay mocked, smiling. “Seriously, though, what were you guys talking about?”  

Evie continued to eye the two carefully, confused on their current status. Did the two hate each other or not? She wasn’t sure how to handle this conversation.

“Carlos thinks it’s weird that we get to eat all this food every day,” Mal responded as she then too took a fry from Carlos’ plate. Carlos glared, but didn’t stop her.

“Oh, I guess,” Jay shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess,” Carlos mocked, in a low, annoying voice. He tried not to laugh, but a small smile managed to sneak through. Jay eyed him carefully, slightly smiling back.

“Oh we’re doing this now, are we?” Jay leaned his body onto the table slightly, and Evie gazed at him before looking at Mal. “What are they doing?” She mouthed to Mal. Mal shrugged, eyes widening.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Carlos grinned, leaning his chair away as Jay seemed to lean closer onto the table.

“Isn’t it _weird_ that we have all this food now?” Jay mocked, laughing, accidentally pushing the table forward.

Carlos’ mouth dropped for a split second before he laughed as he practically threw his body across the table. He jokingly punched Jay on his arm; then kicking him slightly on his leg. “Don’t mock me!”

“Don’t mock me!” Jay retorted, pushing the table again as he tried to get his feet to kick Carlos and not just the air. Carlos laughed as he pulled at the table and tried to push it up against Jay so Carlos could have better leverage of not getting hit. The table was screeching as it scraped against the floor and their food slid on the surface. Evie grabbed at her plate, scowling.

“Ow!” Mal glared as she jumped away from Jay’s foot which had just slammed into her shin. Jay looks up at this, ready to apologize.

“Boys!” Evie scolded, “I’m trying to eat here!” Both boys stop immediately, looking up at their exasperated blue haired friend.

“Oh of course, m’lade” Jay chuckled, pushing Carlos one last time. Carlos would’ve kicked him back if Mal hadn’t glared at him, seemingly knowing that he was about to try something.

“Eat your food!” Mal snapped, sliding Carlos his plate which had managed to get pushed to the end of the table from their little fight. Carlos grumbled in reply, but ate nonetheless. They continued to eat as they discussed their week. Jay mainly talked about workouts and practice and Evie berated Mal for not studying enough for their upcoming math test.

“I so won that,” Carlos spoke up, randomly, after Evie had finished inspecting his arms for any bruising.  

Jay looked up and stopped talking mid-sentence to Mal. “Oh yeah?” He smirked as he grabbed a handful of Carlos’ fries and shoved them into his mouth. Mal slapped Jay on the arm for trying to start up another ‘cute argument’. “Are you sure about that?”

Carlos slammed his hands onto the table and pouted slightly. “Stop stealing my fries! They’re mine! Literally all of you have stolen my fries. I got them for myself, over there,” He pointed dramatically,” So, if you want some, you should go get them, from _over there_!”

“C, they were all out,” Jay said, continuing to eat the handful of fries he had grabbed.

Carlos deadpanned. “Oh, then here,” He divided up the rest of his fries and gave them to Jay. “For you, then, I guess.”

Mal stared at the two in awe and confusion with both eyebrows furrowed. “What the heck is going on.”

“This is weird,” Evie agreed. “Aren’t you two, supposed to be like, mad at each other?”

Both boys glanced at one another before looking at the two girls. “Nope.”

“Okay..”Mal muttered. “Anyways, Carlos, you wanna help me with this math stuff?”

“Like right now?” Carlos asked.

“Well considering our math test is in like two hours, yeah, right now.”  Mal drawled out, resting her chin on the top of her hand, elbow on table.

“Sure,” He responded, but then stopped. “Wait, what time is it?”

Evie and Jay both looked around the cafeteria for the clock. “twelve twenty one,” Jay responded dully.

Carlos’ eyes went wide as he practically leapt from his seat. “Crap, I have to go tutor somebody in like ten minutes.” He gathered his things quickly, swinging his backpack on roughly. “Sorry Mal?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mal muttered. Carlos seemed to be pacing in place, not quite sure if he could leave Mal. “It’s okay, Evie can help me.”

“Okay, great!” Carlos smiled, and then skidded off giddily. Mal lowered her eyes and the three of them watched as he nearly ran into somebody and then dashed to the entrance.

“So are you and him okay?” Evie asked as they continued to watch Carlos.

“Yeah! We’re fine. We’ve come to an agreement and we’re happy. It’s all worked out.” Jay responded with a smile.

 Carlos’ departure was cut short when a guy with dark skin and wavy, shoulder length hair walked in. This peaked Evie and Jay’s interest as they both sat straighter and watched the exchange. The guy pushed some of his hair behind his ear, and Carlos laughed. And suddenly, without any warning Carlos tilts his head and lays a quick kiss on the guys lips. They then grab hands and walk out of the cafeteria.

“Woah,” Evie gasped, eyes widening.

“Well that was quick….” Mal mumbled, slightly shocked. She didn’t want to look in Jay’s direction.

“Is that…” Jay strained his eyes as he tried to keep his voice steady. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me. Freaking Aziz?”

“Aziz as in son of Jasmine and _Aladdin_?” Mal practically shouted, extremely shocked now. How in the world did this happen? And why would Carlos think it was a good idea!

“Yep, that’d be the one.” Jay stated sharply.

“You still fine?” Evie murmurs, her eyes still lingering where Carlos and Aziz had been standing.

“Y’know, that doesn’t really matter. If Carlos is happy, then that’s enough for me.” Jay shrugged, returning his gaze back to his lunch.

“Yeah,” Mal mocked, “Okay.”


End file.
